Job 9:21

Job 9:21 Meaning and Explanation

Though I were perfect, yet would I not know my soul: I would despise my life.

King James Version (KJV)

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Even if blameless, Job feels so confounded that he scarcely knows himself and is weary of life.

What Does Job 9:21 Mean?

Job's suffering has disoriented him so deeply that even were he blameless, he would not know his own soul; he despises his life under the weight of his pain. He is past arguing his merit; he has nearly lost the ground beneath his own sense of self.

This is the language of a soul in the depths, and Scripture lets it stand without rebuke. There are sufferings that unmake our certainties, even about ourselves. Yet the God who knows Job better than Job knows himself has not lost track of him. When we no longer know our own souls, we are still held by the One who formed them and will not let them go.

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What does Job 9:21 mean?

Even if blameless, Job feels so confounded that he scarcely knows himself and is weary of life.

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