The Meaning of Job 9:17 Explained

Job 9:17

KJV: For he breaketh me with a tempest, and multiplieth my wounds without cause.

YLT: Because with a tempest He bruiseth me, And hath multiplied my wounds for nought.

Darby: He, who crusheth me with a tempest, and multiplieth my wounds without cause.

ASV: For he breaketh me with a tempest, And multiplieth my wounds without cause.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

For he breaketh  me with a tempest,  and multiplieth  my wounds  without cause. 

What does Job 9:17 Mean?

Context Summary

Job 9:1-35 - "the Daysman"
Ponder the sublimity of the conceptions of God given in this magnificent passage. To God are attributed the earthquake that rocks the pillars on which the world rests, Job 9:6; the eclipse which hides the heavenly bodies, Job 9:7; the storm in which he bows the heavens and treads majestically on the waves, Job 9:8; and the creation of the constellations, Job 9:9. Who can dare to argue with or call to account so great a God as this? Job 9:10-19. Even if a man be outwardly and inwardly righteous (that is, so far as the measure of his light), yet in such a Presence the heart of the most perfect must condemn him. "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves"¦. God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all." We cannot but feel that this old-world thinker had a truer view of that conscious imperfection and sin which must be experienced by every mortal who has a right appreciation of the holiness of God, than have those who refuse to say the Lord's Prayer because it contains a petition for forgiveness!
Truly we need that Daysman! But we have Him in Jesus our Mediator, who can lay His hand on God and us, Job 9:33; 1 Timothy 2:5. [source]

Chapter Summary: Job 9

1  Job acknowledges God's justice
22  Man's innocence is not to be condemned by afflictions

What do the individual words in Job 9:17 mean?

For with a tempest He crushes me and multiplies my wounds without cause
אֲשֶׁר־ בִּשְׂעָרָ֥ה יְשׁוּפֵ֑נִי וְהִרְבָּ֖ה פְצָעַ֣י חִנָּֽם

בִּשְׂעָרָ֥ה  with  a  tempest 
Parse: Preposition-b, Noun, feminine singular
Root: שְׂעָרָה  
Sense: storm.
יְשׁוּפֵ֑נִי  He  crushes  me 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Imperfect, third person masculine singular, first person common singular
Root: שׁוּף 
Sense: to bruise, crush, gape upon, desire?, seize?, strike out?.
וְהִרְבָּ֖ה  and  multiplies 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Verb, Hifil, Conjunctive perfect, third person masculine singular
Root: הַרְבָּה 
Sense: be or become great, be or become many, be or become much, be or become numerous.
פְצָעַ֣י  my  wounds 
Parse: Noun, masculine plural construct, first person common singular
Root: פֶּצַע  
Sense: bruise, wound.
חִנָּֽם  without  cause 
Parse: Adverb
Root: חִנָּם  
Sense: freely, for nothing, without cause.