The Meaning of Job 6:4 Explained

Job 6:4

KJV: For the arrows of the Almighty are within me, the poison whereof drinketh up my spirit: the terrors of God do set themselves in array against me.

YLT: For arrows of the Mighty are with me, Whose poison is drinking up my spirit. Terrors of God array themselves for me!

Darby: For the arrows of the Almighty are within me, their poison drinketh up my spirit: the terrors of +God are arrayed against me.

ASV: For the arrows of the Almighty are within me, The poison whereof my spirit drinketh up: The terrors of God do set themselves in array against me.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

For the arrows  of the Almighty  [are] within  me, the poison  whereof drinketh up  my spirit:  the terrors  of God  do set themselves in array  against me. 

What does Job 6:4 Mean?

Context Summary

Job 6:1-30 - "a Deceitful Brook"
The burden of Job's complaint is the ill-treatment meted out by his friends. They had accused him of speaking rashly, but they had not measured the greatness of his pain, Job 6:4, or they would have seen it to be as natural as the braying and lowing of hungry and suffering beasts, Job 6:5. A man would not take insipid food without complaint; how much more reason had he to complain whose tears were his meat day and night, Job 6:6-7! So bitter were his pains that he would welcome death, and exult in the throes of dissolution, Job 6:8-10. It could hardly be otherwise than that he should succumb, since he had only the ordinary strength of mortals, and both strength and wisdom were exhausted, Job 6:11-13.
Job next characterizes the assistance of his friends as winter brooks, turbid with melted ice and snow, which bitterly disappoint the travelers who had hoped to find water, and perish beside the dry heaps of stones, Job 6:17. They had found fault with his words, which, in the circumstances, were not a true index to his heart, Job 6:26; but a look into his face would have sufficed to attest his innocence of the sin of which they accused him, Job 6:28-30.
From these complaints of faithlessness and disappointment we turn to Him who, having been made perfect through suffering, has become "the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey Him," Hebrews 5:9. [source]

Chapter Summary: Job 6

1  Job shows that his complaints are not causeless
8  He wishes for death, wherein he is assured of comfort
14  He reproves his friends of unkindness

What do the individual words in Job 6:4 mean?

For the arrows of the Almighty [are] within me which their poison drinks in My spirit the terrors of God are arrayed against me
כִּ֤י חִצֵּ֪י שַׁדַּ֡י עִמָּדִ֗י אֲשֶׁ֣ר חֲ֭מָתָם שֹׁתָ֣ה רוּחִ֑י בִּעוּתֵ֖י אֱל֣וֹהַּ יַֽעַרְכֽוּנִי

חִצֵּ֪י  the  arrows 
Parse: Noun, masculine plural construct
Root: חֵץ  
Sense: arrow.
שַׁדַּ֡י  of  the  Almighty 
Parse: Proper Noun, masculine singular
Root: שַׁדַּי  
Sense: almighty, most powerful.
עִמָּדִ֗י  [are]  within  me 
Parse: Preposition, first person common singular
Root: עִמָּד  
Sense: with.
חֲ֭מָתָם  their  poison 
Parse: Noun, feminine singular construct, third person masculine plural
Root: חֵמָא 
Sense: heat, rage, hot displeasure, indignation, anger, wrath, poison, bottles.
שֹׁתָ֣ה  drinks  in 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Participle, feminine singular
Root: שָׁתָה  
Sense: to drink.
רוּחִ֑י  My  spirit 
Parse: Noun, common singular construct, first person common singular
Root: רוּחַ  
Sense: wind, breath, mind, spirit.
בִּעוּתֵ֖י  the  terrors 
Parse: Noun, masculine plural construct
Root: בִּעוּת  
Sense: terrors, alarms (occasioned by God).
אֱל֣וֹהַּ  of  God 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular
Root: אֱלֹוהַּ  
Sense: God.
יַֽעַרְכֽוּנִי  are  arrayed  against  me 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Imperfect, third person masculine plural, first person common singular
Root: עָרַךְ  
Sense: to arrange, set or put or lay in order, set in array, prepare, order, ordain, handle, furnish, esteem, equal, direct, compare.