Bible Strands
Job 10:20
Are my days not few? Withdraw from me, that I may have a little comfort,
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Job addresses God directly in his lament, positioned between his wish to have been carried from the womb to the grave and his description of the coming descent into darkness.
The words — וַחֲדָ֑ל (ve-chadal) literally means "cease" or "withdraw," and מְעַט (me'at) translates as "few" or "a little," structuring the plea around brevity and pause.
The thread — The motif of compressed days and the request for divine attention recurs in Job 14:1, Job 7:6, and Psalms 39:13.
Why it lands — The verse states that human lifespan is limited and asks for a temporary halt to divine scrutiny so the speaker can secure brief relief before departing.
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
King James Version
Are not my days few? cease then, and let me alone, that I may take comfort a little,
Cross-references
- Job 14:1 “Man, who is born of woman, is short of days and full of trouble.
- Psalms 39:13 Turn Your gaze away from me, that I may again be cheered before I depart and am no more.”
- Job 7:6 My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle; they come to an end without hope.
- Job 7:16 I loathe my life! I would not live forever. Leave me alone, for my days are but a breath.
- Job 8:9 For we were born yesterday and know nothing; our days on earth are but a shadow.
- Job 9:25 My days are swifter than a runner; they flee without seeing good.
- Job 13:21 Withdraw Your hand from me, and do not let Your terror frighten me.
- Psalms 39:5 You, indeed, have made my days as handbreadths, and my lifetime as nothing before You. Truly each man at his best exists as but a breath. Selah
- Psalms 103:15 As for man, his days are like grass—he blooms like a flower of the field;