Job 10:16

Should I hold my head high, You would hunt me like a lion, and again display Your power against me.

Berean Standard Bible

Study note

Setting — Job addresses God directly while cataloging his inescapable distress, noting that neither guilt nor righteousness grants him relief. The declaration occurs mid-lament as he describes unrelenting divine hostility.

The words — The Hebrew יִגְאֶה (yig'eh) literally means "it may rise up," referring to Job's hypothetical pride, while שַׁחַל (shaḥal) translates precisely to "lion" to depict the nature of the pursuit.

The thread — The predatory lion motif appears in Isaiah 38:13 to frame divine judgment and in Lamentations 3:10 to illustrate God's ambush. The phrase regarding displayed power parallels Job 5:9, which records God's unsearchable wonders.

Why it lands — The passage requires the reader to accept that human posture offers no defense against divine pursuit. It compels acknowledgment that moral status cannot interrupt God's active opposition.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Hebrew words

וְ֭יִגְאֶהVe./yig.'ehso/ it may rise up כַּשַּׁ֣חַלka./Sha.challike <the>/ lion תְּצוּדֵ֑נִיte.tzu.De./niyou hunt/ me וְ֝תָשֹׁ֗בve./ta.Shoand/ you return תִּתְפַּלָּא־tit.pa.la'-you show yourself wonderfulבִֽי׃V/ion/ me

King James Version

For it increaseth. Thou huntest me as a fierce lion: and again thou shewest thyself marvellous upon me.

Cross-references

Isaiah 38:13 I composed myself until the morning. Like a lion He breaks all my bones; from day until night You make an end of me.
Lamentations 3:10 He is a bear lying in wait, a lion hiding in ambush.
Job 5:9 the One who does great and unsearchable things, wonders without number.
Numbers 16:29 If these men die a natural death, or if they suffer the fate of all men, then the LORD has not sent me.
Deuteronomy 28:59 He will bring upon you and your descendants extraordinary disasters, severe and lasting plagues, and terrible and chronic sicknesses.
Hosea 13:7 So like a lion I will pounce on them; like a leopard I will lurk by the path.
Amos 3:8 The lion has roared—who will not fear? The Lord GOD has spoken—who will not prophesy?