Job 19:10 kjv
He hath destroyed me on every side, and I am gone: and mine hope hath he removed like a tree.
Job 19:10 nkjv
He breaks me down on every side, And I am gone; My hope He has uprooted like a tree.
Job 19:10 niv
He tears me down on every side till I am gone; he uproots my hope like a tree.
Job 19:10 esv
He breaks me down on every side, and I am gone, and my hope has he pulled up like a tree.
Job 19:10 nlt
He has demolished me on every side, and I am finished.
He has uprooted my hope like a fallen tree.
Job 19 10 Cross References
| Verse | Text | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Job 6:4 | For the arrows of the Almighty are within me... | Job perceives God's direct assault. |
| Job 16:12 | He has set me up for his target... | God seen as actively inflicting pain. |
| Job 30:19 | He has cast me into the mire... | Deep humiliation and degradation from God. |
| Ps 88:15-16 | I suffer your terrors and am helpless... Your burning anger has swept over me... | Similar lament of divine assault. |
| Lam 3:10-12 | Like a bear lying in wait, he ambushed me... He bent his bow and made me his target. | Lament similar to Job's experience of God as enemy. |
| Jer 1:10 | See, today I appoint you over nations... to uproot and tear down... | God's power to uproot nations/structures. |
| Jer 12:14 | concerning all my wicked neighbors who seize the inheritance I gave my people... I will uproot them from their land. | God's uprooting as judgment and total removal. |
| Mt 15:13 | He replied, "Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots." | Implies foundational removal by God's decree. |
| Jer 17:6 | They will be like a bush in the wastelands; they will not see prosperity when it comes. | Imagery of a tree/bush in barrenness when trust is in man; loss of hope. |
| Prov 10:28 | The hope of the righteous will be gladness, but the expectation of the wicked will perish. | The opposite of hope being fulfilled. |
| Prov 11:7 | When a wicked man dies, his hope perishes... | Finality of lost hope. |
| Ezek 37:11 | ...“Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are completely cut off.” | People expressing total loss of hope. |
| Lam 3:18 | So I say, “My splendor is gone and all that I had hoped for from the Lord.” | Personal lament of vanished hope. |
| Isa 38:12 | My dwelling is plucked up and removed from me like a shepherd’s tent; I have rolled up my life like a weaver... | King Hezekiah's lament of being utterly dismantled. |
| Job 14:7-9 | At least there is hope for a tree: If it is cut down, it will sprout again... But a man dies and is laid low... | Highlights Job's unique situation; his hope isn't simply cut, but uprooted. |
| Ps 1:3 | That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season... | Tree symbolizing prosperity, stability, and life linked to righteous living. |
| Jer 17:8 | They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream... | Contrast with Job's uprooted hope, emphasizing steadfastness rooted in God. |
| Heb 6:19 | We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure... | Biblical understanding of true hope, contrasting Job's lack. |
| Rom 5:5 | And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts... | Christian hope in suffering, different from Job's immediate despair. |
| Rom 15:13 | May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope... | God as the source of abounding hope. |
| Ps 42:5 | Why, my soul, are you downcast? ...Put your hope in God... | Internal struggle to place hope in God despite distress. |
| Lam 3:21-23 | Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed... | Emerging hope in the steadfast love of God even amidst lament. |
| Job 19:25-27 | I know that my redeemer lives... in my flesh I will see God. | Job's astonishing turn from despair to profound future hope within the same speech. |
Job 19 verses
Job 19 10 Meaning
Job 19:10 conveys Job's profound despair and perception of God's direct, pervasive destruction of his life and future. He feels utterly broken and stripped of his very existence, believing that God has completely dismantled him from all directions. His fundamental sense of anticipation for anything good, which he describes as "hope," has been violently eradicated, likened to a tree being ripped from the ground, symbolizing the destruction of its life, stability, and potential for growth.
Job 19 10 Context
Job 19 is part of Job's third speech in response to Bildad, occurring at the height of his physical suffering and emotional desolation. By this point, Job is not only battling his friends' misinterpretations of his plight but is also wrestling deeply with God's apparent hostility. He views God as the direct cause of his calamity, not as a remote force but as an active aggressor. He feels abandoned by everyone—family, friends, and even servants. This verse comes after Job has described God's siege-like action against him (vv. 6-9), where God has fenced his way, stripped him of honor, and broken him. Job's expression here sets the stage for the depth of despair from which he then astonishingly proclaims his foundational hope in a living Redeemer in the verses that follow (Job 19:23-27). Culturally, a tree was a potent symbol of life, strength, lineage, and prosperity in the ancient Near East, so its uprooting signified absolute ruin.
Job 19 10 Word analysis
- He has broken me down: יַתֵּרֵֽנִי (yatĕrēni) from the Hebrew verb נָתַר (natar), meaning to loosen, cast off, break away, or even utterly destroy and dismember. Here, it implies being thoroughly shattered, dissolved, or rendered completely vulnerable and powerless. It indicates a violent, dismantling act, a stripping of Job's very constitution.
- on every side: מִכָּל־צַד (mikkol-tzad). This phrase emphasizes the totality and pervasiveness of the assault. Job perceives no escape, no angle from which he is not assailed, suggesting comprehensive ruin in all aspects of his life.
- and I am gone: וָאֵלֵךְ (vā'ēlēkh) from the verb הָלַךְ (halakh), which means to go, walk. In this context, it is an idiom for vanishing, disappearing, or being on the verge of perishing. It conveys a sense of utter dissipation, like vapor fading away or a person being led away to death. Job feels reduced to nothingness.
- he has uprooted: נָסַח (nasach), a strong verb meaning to tear away, to pluck out, to rip out forcefully. This is not a gentle removal but a violent, irreversible act of tearing out something deeply embedded.
- my hope: תִּקְוָתִי (tikwāti), derived from תִּקְוָה (tikvah), meaning expectation, prospect, hope. This refers not merely to a superficial desire but to a foundational expectation for the future, the very inner essence that sustains one in anticipation of good. It's Job's lifeline of potential for well-being.
- like a tree: כְּעֵץ (kə'ētz). This is a vivid simile. A tree symbolizes strength, stability, vitality, deep rootedness, and potential for growth and fruitfulness (Ps 1:3). To be uprooted like a tree means that this core, vital foundation has been torn out by force, signifying complete, catastrophic, and unnatural destruction of his life's promise.
Job 19 10 Bonus section
This verse perfectly illustrates the concept of "lament theology," where a suffering individual feels justified in directly accusing God and expressing their anguish without immediate divine retribution, as seen repeatedly in the Psalms and other wisdom literature. Job's perception of God as an enemy ("He has broken me down... He has uprooted") highlights the intensely personal and often misunderstood nature of suffering. While Job is correct that God permits suffering, his immediate interpretation that God is maliciously "breaking" him reveals the theological struggle of understanding divine sovereignty in adversity. The imagery of the uprooted tree not only signifies loss of hope but also suggests an unnatural death, a vital element prematurely cut off from life's sustenance, deeply resonant with Job's earlier lament in Job 14 about the limited hope for a cut-down tree compared to the apparent finality of human death.
Job 19 10 Commentary
Job 19:10 captures the profound depth of Job's suffering, not just externally, but within the very core of his being. He attributes his total ruin to God's direct hand, believing God has meticulously broken him down, leaving him desolate and erased from his former state of existence. The imagery of his hope being uprooted like a tree powerfully communicates that his very life's foundation and future anticipation have been violently annihilated. This is beyond material loss; it is the destruction of his internal ability to expect anything positive, making his situation appear utterly without remedy. Yet, this extreme statement of despair in the passage remarkably precedes Job's awe-inspiring declaration of faith in his living Redeemer, highlighting the paradox of hope that can emerge even from the deepest valley of suffering.