Job 10

Job 10 is the tenth chapter of the Book of Job in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. The book is anonymous; most scholars believe it was written around 6th century BCE. This chapter records the speech of Job, which belongs to the Dialogue section of the book, comprising Job 3:1–31:40.

Text

The original text is written in Hebrew language. This chapter is divided into 22 verses.

Textual witnesses

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter in Hebrew are of the Masoretic Text, which includes the Aleppo Codex, and Codex Leningradensis.
There is also a translation into Koine Greek known as the Septuagint, made in the last few centuries BC; some extant ancient manuscripts of this version include Codex Vaticanus, Codex Sinaiticus, and Codex Alexandrinus.

Analysis

The structure of the book is as follows:

The Prologue
The Dialogue
The Verdicts
The Epilogue

Within the structure, chapter 10 is grouped into the Dialogue section with the following outline:

Job's Self-Curse and Self-Lament
Round One
*Eliphaz
*Job
*Bildad
*Job
**Being Righteous before God
**God's Power and Force
**The Difficulties of Litigation against God
**How Does God Rule the World?
**Exploring Other Options
**Transition to a Lament
**Three Sharp Questions
**Remember How You Made Me
**Now You Have Destroyed Me
**Closing Words of Despair
*Zophar
*Job
Round Two
Round Three
Interlude – A Poem on Wisdom
Job's Summing Up

The Dialogue section is composed in the format of poetry with distinctive syntax and grammar.
Chapter 10 has a form of a lament to follow Job's contemplation to get a legal settlement in the previous chapter. The first part seems to contain a rehearsing of words to be used for a confrontation with a legal adversary in Job's imaginary litigation, but in general, especially in the second part, it is primarily a complaint addressed to God.

Three sharp questions (10:1–7)

The opening of this section is similar to the transitional to the complaint in chapter 7, but verse 2 is formed as a request from a defendant that a plaintiff makes known the charge against the defendant. Job then probes God's motive by directly asking 'three sharp rhetorical questions'.

What advantage does God gain from oppressing Job?
Does God have the limited human vision ?
Is God subject to the same time limitation as a human ?

Job is convinced that God knows Job is not guilty, that is, a "conviction born of his faith", so whereas he contemplated to look for an 'umpire' or arbiter to settle his case, he is now longing for a 'deliverer'.

Verse 3

"Is it good for You": can also be rendered as “Does it give you pleasure?” or “Is it profitable for you?” or “Is it fitting for you?”

Words of despair (10:8–22)

Two thoughts about the accusation in verse 3a are stated in verse 8 which will be unpacked in the next parts within the section:

Statement in verse 8a concerning the theology of creation is unpacked in verses 9–12
Statement in verse 8b accusing the absence of God's providential care is expanded in verses 13–17

The conclusion of Job's second speech recalls his opening outcry and his previous plea. There are two significant changes to the earlier statements in Job 3:11, 16:

The complaint about his tragic birth is now directly addressed to God.
The lament about being born is changed to be the lament about being brought out of the womb.

However, acting out of faith, Job does not aim primarily to get relief from his suffering, but to have his relationship with God restored.

Verse 8

"Completely": translated from יַ֥חַד סָ֝בִ֗יב, , literally "together round about" or "an intricate unity". Most commentators connect this phrase with the second statement, as the Masoretic Text accents indicate and as Septuagint renders.

Verse 9

"Into dust": in accordance with, that humankind was formed from dust and will return to dust (; cf. Ecclesiastes 12:7.

Verse 18

Cross references: Job 1:21; 10:18-19; Jeremiah 20:17-18

The two imperfect verbs in this verse stress 'regrets for something which did not happen'.