The Meaning of Job 19:2 Explained

Job 19:2

KJV: How long will ye vex my soul, and break me in pieces with words?

YLT: Till when do ye afflict my soul, And bruise me with words?

Darby: How long will ye vex my soul, and crush me with words?

ASV: How long will ye vex my soul, And break me in pieces with words?

KJV Reverse Interlinear

How long will ye vex  my soul,  and break  me in pieces with words? 

What does Job 19:2 Mean?

Context Summary

Job 19:1-29 - "i Know That My Redeemer Liveth"
In Job's melancholy condition his friends seemed only to add vexation and trial. The hirelings who sojourned in his household looked on him with disdain; his kith and kin were alienated; it seemed as if the Almighty had an antipathy against him. So great was his physical suffering that the only sound part of his body seemed to be the skin of his gums and his teeth, Job 19:20 (that is, all he could do was to speak). Then he suddenly breaks into the majestic utterance of Job 19:25-26.
Among the Bedouins the institution of the goel-or kinsman representative-still exists for the avenging of wrong done to a kinsman: and Job believed that his divine Goel would one day stand on the earth for his vindication. Yes, and more, he felt that somehow he, too, would arise from the very grave to hear that vindication spoken by those just and true lips. Above all, he would see God Himself standing with him-whom I"¦ shall see, on my side, Job 19:27, r.v. [source]

Chapter Summary: Job 19

1  Job, complaining of his friends' cruelty,
6  shows there is misery enough in him to feed their cruelty
21  He craves pity
23  He believes the resurrection

What do the individual words in Job 19:2 mean?

how long will you torment my soul and break me in pieces with words
עַד־ אָ֭נָה תּוֹגְי֣וּן נַפְשִׁ֑י וּֽתְדַכְּאוּנַ֥נִי ؟ בְמִלִּֽים

עַד־  how 
Parse: Preposition
Root: עַד  
Sense: as far as, even to, until, up to, while, as far as.
אָ֭נָה  long 
Parse: Adverb
Root: אָן  
Sense: where?, whither? (of place).
תּוֹגְי֣וּן  will  you  torment 
Parse: Verb, Hifil, Imperfect, second person masculine plural, Paragogic nun
Root: יָגָה 
Sense: to afflict, grieve, suffer, cause grief.
נַפְשִׁ֑י  my  soul 
Parse: Noun, feminine singular construct, first person common singular
Root: נֶפֶשׁ  
Sense: soul, self, life, creature, person, appetite, mind, living being, desire, emotion, passion.
וּֽתְדַכְּאוּנַ֥נִי  and  break  me  in  pieces 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Verb, Piel, Conjunctive imperfect, second person masculine plural, first person common singular, Paragogic nun
Root: דָּכָא  
Sense: to crush, be crushed, be contrite, be broken.
؟ בְמִלִּֽים  with  words 
Parse: Preposition-b, Noun, feminine plural
Root: מִלָּה  
Sense: word, speech, utterance.