Job 10:8 kjv
Thine hands have made me and fashioned me together round about; yet thou dost destroy me.
Job 10:8 nkjv
'Your hands have made me and fashioned me, An intricate unity; Yet You would destroy me.
Job 10:8 niv
"Your hands shaped me and made me. Will you now turn and destroy me?
Job 10:8 esv
Your hands fashioned and made me, and now you have destroyed me altogether.
Job 10:8 nlt
"'You formed me with your hands; you made me,
yet now you completely destroy me.
Job 10 8 Cross References
| Verse | Text | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Ps 139:13-16 | For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb... | God's intricate formation of individuals. |
| Isa 64:8 | Yet you, O Lord, are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter... | God as the sovereign Creator, we as His work. |
| Gen 2:7 | ...the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into... | God's physical formation of humanity. |
| Ecc 12:1 | Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth... | God as the ultimate Creator of life. |
| Isa 45:9-11 | Woe to him who strives with his Maker, an earthen pot among earthen pots!... | The Creator's right to shape His creation. |
| Rom 9:20-21 | But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say...? | God's sovereignty over His creation's purpose. |
| Jer 18:6 | "Can I not do with you, O house of Israel, just as this potter does?" declares | God's sovereign control over His people. |
| Deut 32:39 | "'See now that I, I am he, and there is no god beside me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal... | God's ultimate power over life and death. |
| 1 Sam 2:6 | The Lord kills and brings to life; he brings down to Sheol and raises up. | God's complete control over human destiny. |
| Lam 3:37-38 | Who can speak and have it happen, unless the Lord has decreed it?... | God's absolute sovereignty and decree. |
| Job 7:17-21 | What is man, that you make so much of him, and that you pay attention to...? | Job's similar questioning of God's attentiveness. |
| Job 9:22 | It is all one; therefore I say, He destroys both the blameless and the wicked. | Job's perception of indiscriminate divine action. |
| Ps 90:3 | You return man to dust and say, "Return, O children of man!" | God's power to return man to dust. |
| Isa 29:16 | You turn things upside down! Shall the potter be regarded as the clay...? | Denounces presuming to challenge the Creator. |
| Acts 17:25 | ...nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life... | God is the source of all life. |
| Hab 1:2-3 | O Lord, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear?... | Similar human lament over suffering/injustice. |
| Isa 45:7 | I form light and create darkness, I make well-being and create calamity, I am the Lord, who does all these things. | God's all-encompassing control over creation. |
| Mal 2:10 | Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us? | God as the common Father and Creator. |
| Job 14:1 | "Man who is born of a woman is few of days and full of trouble." | Humanity's inherent frailty. |
| Eccl 3:2 | a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; | God's appointed times for life and death. |
Job 10 verses
Job 10 8 Meaning
Job 10:8 encapsulates Job’s poignant lament to God, asserting that the very hands that meticulously formed and fashioned him from every aspect are now seemingly set to destroy him. It conveys the paradox Job perceives: the creator, who exercised such intricate care in his making, now appears intent on his complete annihilation without just cause, from Job’s limited understanding of his suffering. This verse is a cry of bewilderment and desperate questioning of divine justice.
Job 10 8 Context
Job chapter 10 is part of Job’s desperate and emotionally charged response to his friends' accusations and God's silence. Following Eliphaz’s initial speech (ch. 4-5) that insinuated Job's suffering was a result of his sin, Job vehemently defends his innocence and directs his lamentations directly to God. In this chapter, Job feels as though God, his own Creator, has become his adversary, actively seeking to destroy him. He begs God to reveal the cause of His severe treatment (v. 2), highlights the irony of God observing human life closely only to afflict it (v. 3-7), and emphasizes the meticulous care with which God formed him, making the current destruction even more perplexing and unbearable (v. 8-12). The immediate context shows Job grappling with the deep mystery of God’s dealings with humanity, particularly concerning suffering when he perceives himself as innocent.
Job 10 8 Word analysis
- Your hands (יָדֶיךָ - yadéykha): Literally "your hands." This phrase highlights personal agency and intimate involvement. Job attributes his very existence and detailed formation directly to God's skillful, intentional touch. This sets up the profound paradox in the latter part of the verse. It refers to God's creative power, suggesting deliberate crafting, not an impersonal process.
- have made me and fashioned me (עֲצְּבֻנִי וַיַּעֲשׂוּנִי - 'atsavúni vayya'asúni): This uses two verbs with overlapping but distinct meanings.
עֲצְּבֻנִי('atsavúni): From the rootעצב('atsav), meaning to "form," "shape," or "design." It implies meticulous sculpting, attention to detail, and a specific purpose. There's also a secondary nuance of "to be grieved" or "troubled" related to this root, which is a significant parallel in Job's own suffering, adding depth to the divine "fashioning."וַיַּעֲשׂוּנִי(vayya'asúni): From the rootעשה('asah), meaning "to make," "do," or "accomplish." This is a more general term for creation or bringing into being. When coupled with the first verb, it emphasizes the comprehensive act of creation—not just forming but actualizing.- Together, these verbs convey that Job's entire being, from his fundamental form to every intricate detail, was deliberately and actively brought into existence by God.
- all together, all around (סָבִיב סָבִיב - savív savív): The repetition of
savív(around, surrounding, entirely) provides intense emphasis. It means "completely," "from every side," "wholly." Job stresses the comprehensiveness of God's creative act, implying nothing was left out, nothing was haphazard. Every aspect of his being was intentionally crafted. - Yet You would destroy me (וַתְּבַלֵּעֵנִי - vattǝvalle'ḗni): This is a powerful, jarring contrast. The verb
בלע(bala') means "to swallow," "engulf," "consume," or "destroy completely." Job presents God as the one who meticulously created him now paradoxically consuming him, obliterating the very being He took such pains to make. The syntax poses it as an indignant question or a stark observation of a painful reality as he perceives it.
Job 10 8 Bonus section
The Hebrew term for "fashion" (atsav) can also be linked to "grief" or "pain." This potential double-meaning, though contextually pointing to formation, adds a layer of poignant irony. The God who "shaped" Job might also be the one who "pains" or "grieves" him. This verse does not imply that Job doubts God's power as creator; rather, he questions God's consistency or righteousness in relation to him. This is a central theme in Job: how can human experience of injustice align with divine perfection? This verse also indirectly challenges the then-common Near Eastern polytheistic belief systems, where deities were often seen as capricious and sometimes destructive, but rarely as intimately involved and purposeful in creation as the God of Israel is portrayed. Job maintains God’s unique and total power, even while he questions His present actions towards him.
Job 10 8 Commentary
Job 10:8 is the anguished cry of a man who perceives a stark contradiction between God's prior action as Creator and His current action as Destroyer. Job understands himself to be the meticulously fashioned handiwork of God, formed "all together, all around," implying perfection and complete intentionality in his design. This is a deep affirmation of God's role as the supreme artificer of life. However, this foundational truth now collides with his painful reality. From Job’s perspective, the same hands that crafted him are now actively dismantling him, aiming to "swallow" him up completely. This is not just a complaint about suffering, but a profound theological dilemma for Job: How can a benevolent, detailed Creator then become an apparent, unprovoked destroyer? The verse expresses Job's deep bewilderment, suggesting a sense of betrayal of the divine craftsman's own work. It captures the human struggle to reconcile divine power and sovereignty with perceived injustice in suffering, challenging the notion of a predictable cause-and-effect theology, especially for the innocent. It highlights that Job's agony extends beyond physical pain to an intellectual and spiritual crisis regarding God's character.