Bible Strands
Job 4:9
By the breath of God they perish, and by the blast of His anger they are consumed.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The speaker addresses Job directly after stating that those who sow trouble reap the same harvest, collapsing the gap between moral cause and immediate effect.
The words — נִשְמַת (nishmat) translates literally as "breath" or "wind," while יֹאבֵדוּ (yo'vedu) means "they perish," anchoring the verse's claim that divine agency, not human effort, dictates the final outcome.
The thread — The motif of God's breath as a destructive force appears in Job 15:30 and Isaiah 30:33, where breath or fire consumes the wicked without escape.
Why it lands — It demands recognition that moral decay triggers an inescapable, divinely executed termination, leaving no room for self-preservation or delayed justice.
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
By the blast of God they perish, and by the breath of his nostrils are they consumed.
Cross-references
- Job 15:30 He will not escape from the darkness; the flame will wither his shoots, and the breath of God’s mouth will carry him away.
- Isaiah 11:4 but with righteousness He will judge the poor, and with equity He will decide for the lowly of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth and slay the wicked with the breath of His lips.
- Isaiah 30:33 For Topheth has long been prepared; it has been made ready for the king. Its funeral pyre is deep and wide, with plenty of fire and wood. The breath of the LORD, like a torrent of burning sulfur, sets it ablaze.
- 2 Thessalonians 2:8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will slay with the breath of His mouth and annihilate by the majesty of His arrival.
- Psalms 18:15 The channels of the sea appeared, and the foundations of the world were exposed, at Your rebuke, O LORD, at the blast of the breath of Your nostrils.
- Revelation 2:16 Therefore repent! Otherwise I will come to you shortly and wage war against them with the sword of My mouth.
- Exodus 15:8 At the blast of Your nostrils the waters piled up; like a wall the currents stood firm; the depths congealed in the heart of the sea.
- Exodus 15:10 But You blew with Your breath, and the sea covered them. They sank like lead in the mighty waters.
- Job 1:19 when suddenly a mighty wind swept in from the desert and struck the four corners of the house. It collapsed on the young people and they are dead, and I alone have escaped to tell you!”
- 2 Kings 19:7 Behold, I will put a spirit in him so that he will hear a rumor and return to his own land, where I will cause him to fall by the sword.’”