The Meaning of Job 19:8 Explained

Job 19:8

KJV: He hath fenced up my way that I cannot pass, and he hath set darkness in my paths.

YLT: My way He hedged up, and I pass not over, And on my paths darkness He placeth.

Darby: He hath hedged up my way that I cannot pass, and he hath set darkness in my paths.

ASV: He hath walled up my way that I cannot pass, And hath set darkness in my paths.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

He hath fenced up  my way  that I cannot pass,  and he hath set  darkness  in my paths. 

What does Job 19:8 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 19:8 mean?

My way He has fenced up so that cannot I pass and in my paths darkness He has set
אָרְחִ֣י גָ֭דַר וְלֹ֣א אֶעֱב֑וֹר וְעַ֥ל נְ֝תִיבוֹתַ֗י חֹ֣שֶׁךְ יָשִֽׂים

אָרְחִ֣י  My  way 
Parse: Noun, common singular construct, first person common singular
Root: אֹרַח  
Sense: way, path.
גָ֭דַר  He  has  fenced  up 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Perfect, third person masculine singular
Root: גָּדַר  
Sense: to wall up, wall off, close off, build a wall.
וְלֹ֣א  so  that  cannot 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Adverb, Negative particle
Root: הֲלֹא 
Sense: not, no.
אֶעֱב֑וֹר  I  pass 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Imperfect, first person common singular
Root: עָבַר 
Sense: to pass over or by or through, alienate, bring, carry, do away, take, take away, transgress.
וְעַ֥ל  and  in 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Preposition
Root: עַל 
Sense: upon, on the ground of, according to, on account of, on behalf of, concerning, beside, in addition to, together with, beyond, above, over, by, on to, towards, to, against.
נְ֝תִיבוֹתַ֗י  my  paths 
Parse: Noun, feminine plural construct, first person common singular
Root: נָתִיב 
Sense: trodden with the feet, path, pathway.
חֹ֣שֶׁךְ  darkness 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular
Root: חֹשֶׁךְ  
Sense: darkness, obscurity.
יָשִֽׂים  He  has  set 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Imperfect, third person masculine singular
Root: שׂוּמָה 
Sense: to put, place, set, appoint, make.