The Meaning of Job 10:20 Explained

Job 10:20

KJV: Are not my days few? cease then, and let me alone, that I may take comfort a little,

YLT: Are not my days few? Cease then, and put from me, And I brighten up a little,

Darby: Are not my days few? cease then and let me alone, that I may revive a little,

ASV: Are not my days few? cease then, And let me alone, that I may take comfort a little,

KJV Reverse Interlinear

[Are] not my days  few?  cease  {08675;02308:08799} [then, and] let me alone  {08675;07896:08799}, that I may take comfort  a little, 

What does Job 10:20 Mean?

Context Summary

Job 10:1-22 - Soul Bitterness
In this chapter Job accuses God of persecuting His own workmanship, Job 20:3; of pursuing him with repeated strokes, as if he had not time enough to wait between them, but must hurry on to achieve His design, Job 10:5; of reversing the careful providence which had watched over his earlier years, Job 10:12; of hunting and playing with him as a wild beast with his prey, Job 10:16-17; and asks that he may be allowed speedily to enter the land of Sheol, Job 10:18-22.
As we read these complaints, we may remember days in our lives when we uttered similar ones, but we are without excuse. And when we are tempted in this direction, it is for us to remember that probably we are being tried to teach the manifold wisdom of God, and that the works of God should be made manifest in us, Ephesians 3:10; John 9:3. It will enable us to endure, if we remember that God has conferred on us high honor, by choosing us to show that we can stand the fire, like those iron safes, blackened by smoke, which the makers place in the shop windows to prove the stability of their workmanship. [source]

Chapter Summary: Job 10

1  Job, taking liberty of complaint, expostulates with God about his afflictions
18  He complains of life, and craves a little ease before death

What do the individual words in Job 10:20 mean?

Are not few my days - Cease - leave alone me that I may take comfort a little
הֲלֹא־ ؟ מְעַ֣ט יָמַ֣י [יחדל] (וַחֲדָ֑ל) [ישית] (וְשִׁ֥ית) מִ֝מֶּ֗נִּי וְאַבְלִ֥יגָה מְּעָֽט

הֲלֹא־  Are  not 
Parse: Adverb, Negative particle
Root: הֲלֹא 
Sense: not, no.
؟ מְעַ֣ט  few 
Parse: Adjective, masculine singular
Root: מְעַט  
Sense: littleness, few, a little, fewness.
יָמַ֣י  my  days 
Parse: Noun, masculine plural construct, first person common singular
Root: יׄום 
Sense: day, time, year.
[יחדל]  - 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Imperfect, third person masculine singular
(וַחֲדָ֑ל)  Cease 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Verb, Qal, Imperative, masculine singular
Root: חָדַל 
Sense: to stop, cease, desist, forego, cease to be, leave undone, forbear.
[ישית]  - 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Imperfect, third person masculine singular
(וְשִׁ֥ית)  leave  alone 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Verb, Qal, Imperative, masculine singular
Root: שִׁית  
Sense: to put, set.
מִ֝מֶּ֗נִּי  me 
Parse: Preposition, first person common singular
Root: מִן 
Sense: from, out of, on account of, off, on the side of, since, above, than, so that not, more than.
וְאַבְלִ֥יגָה  that  I  may  take  comfort 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Verb, Hifil, Conjunctive imperfect Cohortative, first person common singular
Root: בָּלַג  
Sense: to gleam, smile.
מְּעָֽט  a  little 
Parse: Adjective, masculine singular
Root: מְעַט  
Sense: littleness, few, a little, fewness.