The Meaning of Job 9:18 Explained

Job 9:18

KJV: He will not suffer me to take my breath, but filleth me with bitterness.

YLT: He permitteth me not to refresh my spirit, But filleth me with bitter things.

Darby: He suffereth me not to take my breath, for he filleth me with bitternesses.

ASV: He will not suffer me to take my breath, But filleth me with bitterness.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

He will not suffer  me to take  my breath,  but filleth  me with bitterness. 

What does Job 9:18 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 9:18 mean?

Not He will allow me to catch my breath but fills me with bitterness
לֹֽא־ יִ֭תְּנֵנִי הָשֵׁ֣ב רוּחִ֑י כִּ֥י יַ֝שְׂבִּעַ֗נִי מַמְּרֹרִֽים

יִ֭תְּנֵנִי  He  will  allow  me 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Imperfect, third person masculine singular, first person common singular
Root: יָתַן 
Sense: to give, put, set.
הָשֵׁ֣ב  to  catch 
Parse: Verb, Hifil, Infinitive absolute
Root: שׁוּב  
Sense: to return, turn back.
רוּחִ֑י  my  breath 
Parse: Noun, common singular construct, first person common singular
Root: רוּחַ  
Sense: wind, breath, mind, spirit.
יַ֝שְׂבִּעַ֗נִי  fills  me 
Parse: Verb, Hifil, Imperfect, third person masculine singular, first person common singular
Root: שָׂבַע  
Sense: to be satisfied, be sated, be fulfilled, be surfeited.
מַמְּרֹרִֽים  with  bitterness 
Parse: Noun, masculine plural
Root: מַמְּרֹרִים  
Sense: bitter thing, bitterness.