Skip to content

Job 36:19

Is your cry for deliverance putting in order?3 It was not restrained, neither any efforts of strength!4

Footnote:

Job. 36:19

This verse ื”ื™ืขืจืš ืฉื•ืขืš ืœื ื‘ืฆืจ ื•ื›ืœ ืžืืžืฆื™ ื›ื— appears to function as a rhetorical unit expressing the total, unrestrained outpouring of supplication and exertion.

The verb ื‘ืฆืจ (“to withhold, restrain, fortify”) is here used negatively (ืœื ื‘ืฆืจ), implying that neither the cry (ืฉื•ืขืš) nor the efforts (ืžืืžืฆื™ ื›ื—) were curtailed. This construction parallels the formulation in Genesis 11:6,

ื•ืขืชื” ืœื ื™ื‘ืฆืจ ืžื”ื ื›ืœ ืืฉืจ ื™ื–ืžื• ืœืขืฉื•ืช

“and now, nothing is restrained from them which they purpose to make”

where ื™ื‘ืฆืจ (niphal imperfect) denotes a removal of external restraint or impossibility. In both passages, ื‘ืฆืจ conveys the idea of unprevented outcome—whether that be human enterprise (Genesis 11) or the raw surge of supplication and strength (Job). The implication in Job’s context may be subtly ironic: though the outcry and effort are not restrained, they still fail to elicit a divine response.