Job - 4:14



14 fear came on me, and trembling, which made all my bones shake.

Verse In-Depth

Explanation and meaning of Job 4:14.

Differing Translations

Compare verses for better understanding.
Fear seized upon me, and trembling, and all my bones were affrighted:
Fear hath met me, and trembling, And the multitude of my bones caused to fear.
Fear came on me and shaking, and my bones were full of trouble;
Fear came upon me, and trembling, And all my bones were made to shake. .
fear and trembling seized me and all my bones were terrified.

*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.


Historical Commentaries

Scholarly Analysis and Interpretation.

Fear came upon me - Margin, "Met me." The Chaldee Paraphrase renders this, "a tempest," זיקא. The Septuagint, φρίκη frikē - "shuddering," or "horror." The sense is, that he became greatly alarmed at the vision.
Which made all my bones to shake - Margin, as in Hebrew, the multitude of my bones. A similar image is employed by Virgil,
Obstupuere auimis, gelidusque per ima cucurrit
Ossa tremor;
Aeneid ii. 120.
"A cold tremor ran through all their bones."

Fear came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones (i) to shake.
(i) In these visions which God shows to his creatures, there is always a certain fear joined, that the authority of it might be had in greater reverence.

Fear came upon me, and trembling,.... Not only a dread of mind, but trembling of body; which was often the case even with good men, whenever there was any unusual appearance of God unto them by a voice, or by any representation, or by an angel; as with Abraham in the vision of the pieces, and with Moses on Mount Sinai, and with Daniel in some of his visions, and with Zechariah, when an angel appeared and brought him the tidings of a son to be born to him; which arises from the frailty and weakness of human nature, a consciousness of guilt, a sense of the awful majesty of God, and an uneasy apprehension of what may be the consequences of it:
which made all my bones to shake; not only there was inward fear and outward tremor of body, but to such a degree, that not one joint in him was still; all the members of his body shook, and every bone was as if it was loosed, which are the more firm and solid parts, as is common many considerable tremor.

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