Albert Barnes Commentary Job 17:1

Albert Barnes Commentary

Job 17:1

1798–1870
Presbyterian
Albert Barnes
Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes Commentary

Job 17:1

1798–1870
Presbyterian
SCRIPTURE

"My spirit is consumed, my days are extinct, The grave is [ready] for me." — Job 17:1 (ASV)

My breath is corrupt - Margin or “spirit is spent.” The idea is that his vital powers were nearly extinct; his breath failed; his power was weakened, and he was ready to die. This is connected with the previous chapter, and should not have been separated from it. There was no necessity of making a new chapter here, and we have one of those unfortunate breaks in the middle of a paragraph, and almost of a sentence, which are too common in the Scriptures.

The graves are ready for me - The Hebrew is plural, but why it is so used, I do not know. The Vulgate is singular - sepulchrum. The Septuagint renders it, “I pray for a tomb (singular, ταφῆς taphēs), but I cannot obtain it.” Possibly the meaning is “I am about to be united ‘to the graves,’ or ‘to tombs.’” Schultens remarks that the plural form is common in Arabic poetry, as well as in poetry in general.