By the breath of God they perish. By the blast of his anger are they consumed.
Parallel Translations
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By the breath of God they perish. By the blast of his anger are they consumed.
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By the blast of God they perish, and by the breath of his nostrils are they consumed.
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By the breath of God they perish, and by the blast of His anger are they consumed.
Cross-references (11)
Passages linked to Job 4:9 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Job 15:30 He will not depart out of darkness. The flame will dry up his branches. He will go away by the breath of God’s mouth.
- Isaiah 11:4 but he will judge the poor with righteousness, and decide with equity for the humble of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; and with the breath of his lips he will kill the wicked.
- Isaiah 30:33 For his burning place has long been ready. Yes, for the king it is prepared. He has made its pyre deep and large with fire and much wood. Yahweh’s breath, like a stream of sulfur, kindles it.
- 2 Thessalonians 2:8 Then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will kill with the breath of his mouth, and destroy by the manifestation of his coming;
- Psalms 18:15 Then the channels of waters appeared. The foundations of the world were laid bare at your rebuke, Yahweh, at the blast of the breath of your nostrils.
- Revelation 2:16 Repent therefore, or else I am coming to you quickly, and I will make war against them with the sword of my mouth.
- Exodus 15:8 With the blast of your nostrils, the waters were piled up. The floods stood upright as a heap. The deeps were congealed in the heart of the sea.
- Exodus 15:10 You blew with your wind. The sea covered them. They sank like lead in the mighty waters.
- Job 1:19 and behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell on the young men, and they are dead. I alone have escaped to tell you.”
- 2 Kings 19:7 Behold, I will put a spirit in him, and he will hear news, and will return to his own land. I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.” ’ ”
- Job 40:13 Hide them in the dust together. Bind their faces in the hidden place.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (14 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain He showeth that God needeth no great preparation to…
He showeth that God needeth no great preparation to destroy his enemies: for he can do it with the blast of his mouth.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Job 4:9 By the blast of God they perish,…
Job 4:9 By the blast of God they perish, and by the breath of his nostrils are they consumed.
Ver. 9. By the blast of God they perish] He puts himself to no great pain to punish them; but blows them away as so many dust heaps; he nods them to destruction, saith the psalmist, Psa 80:16; he can as easily do it as bid it to be done. So Caesar Metellus. If the Lord do but arise, his enemies shall be scattered; and all that hate him fly before him, Psa 64:1. If he but put his head out of the windows of heaven, as it were, and say, Who is on my side; who? all the creatures (who for fear of him had hid themselves, as worms wriggle into their holes in time of thunder) shall look out presently, and offer him their service; so that he cannot possibly want a weapon to tame his rebels, or a way to bring the wicked to condign punishment. He is Eloah, as he is here called; that is, The powerful One, the mighty strong God, as Isa 9:6, before whom all nations are as the drop of a bucket, or as the dust of the balance, Isa 40:15; no more able to stand against him than is the glass bottle against a cannon shot, or downny thistle before a whirlwind. Behold, I will send a blast upon him (saith God concerning Sennacherib, 2Ki 19:7), and so set him going. So, elsewhere, he threateneth to tread down his stoutest enemies as straw is trodden down to the dunghill. Neither shall he much trouble himself in doing this: for he shall only spread forth his hands in the midst of them, "as he that swimmeth, spreadeth forth his hands to swim," &c., Isa 25:11-12, to signify that he shall do it with greatest facility. The motion in swimming is easy, not strong; for strong violent strokes in the water would rather sink than support. It is said, that by a look of his out of the pillar of fire and of the cloud he troubled the host of the Egyptians, Exo 14:24, and as the rocks repelled the boisterous waves, - Conantia frangere frangunt, so did he the enemies of his people.
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By the breath of his nostrils are they consumed] Heb. By the wind of his nostrils. This is the same with the former. Only it is conceived that Eliphaz here alludeth to the manner of the death of Job s children by a mighty wind, so strong as if God himself had breathed it out. By the breath of his mouth he made the world, Psa 32:6, and by the same breath can he as soon and as easily unmake it again, as he did in the general deluge, whereunto the Chaldee paraphrast holdeth that Eliphaz here referreth; the remembrance of which standing monument of God’s wrath was fresh and well known when this was spoken.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain By the blast of God, to wit, of his…
By the blast of God, to wit, of his nostrils, as it here follows, i.e. by his anger, which in men shows itself in the nostrils, by hot and frequent breathings there, and therefore by an anthropopathy is ascribed to God; by a secret, and oft undiscerned, but mighty and powerful, judgment of God, by which they are blasted and blown away as chaff by the wind, as the phrase is, Psa 1.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain The roaring of the lion, and the voice of…
The roaring of the lion, and the voice of the fierce lion,.... Which Aben Ezra interprets of God himself, who is compared to a lion; who not only by his voice terrifies, but in his wrath tears the wicked in pieces, and destroys them, and so is a continuation of the preceding account; and others, as R. Moses and R. Jonah, whom he mentions, take this to be a continuation of the means and methods by which God destroys wicked men sometimes, namely, by beasts of prey; this being one of his sore judgments he threatens men with, and inflicts upon men, see Lev 26:22; and in this they are followed by some Christian interpreters, who render the words "at" or "by the roaring of the lion, and by the voice of the fierce lion, by the teeth of the young lions" (c), they the wicked "are broken", ground to pieces, and utterly destroyed; but it is better, with Jarchi, Ben Gersom, and others, to understand it of kings and princes, of the mighty ones of the earth, tyrannical and oppressive rulers and governors; comparable to lions of different ages; because of their grandeur and greatness, their power and might, their cruelty and oppression in each of their different capacities; signifying, that these do not escape the righteous judgments of God: the Targum interprets the roaring of the lion of Esau, and the voice of the fierce lion of Edom; and another Jewish writer (d) of Nimrod, the first tyrant and oppressor, the mighty hunter before the Lord; but these are too particular; wicked men in power and authority in general are here, and in the following clauses, intended, see Jer 4:7 Ti2 4:17; and the sense is, that such ploughers and sowers of iniquity as are like to fierce and roaring lions are easily and quickly destroyed by the Lord:
and the teeth of the young lions are broken: the power of such mighty ones to do mischief is taken away from them, and they and their families are brought to ruin; the teeth of lions are very strong in both jaws; they have fourteen teeth, four incisors or cutters, four canine or dog teeth, six molars or grinders.
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(c) "Rugitu leonis et voce ferocis leonis", &c. Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; so some in R. Someon Bar Tzemach. (d) R. Obadiah Sephorno.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain The blast - Of his nostrils, as it follows;…
The blast - Of his nostrils, as it follows; by his anger, which in men shews itself, in the nostrils, by hot and frequent breathings there, by a secret, but mighty judgment of God, they are blown away as chaff by the wind.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 9. By the blast of God they perish]…
Verse 9. By the blast of God they perish] As the noxious and parching east wind blasts and destroys vegetation, so the wicked perish under the indignation of the Almighty.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Job 4:9-10. By the blast of God they perish,…
Job 4:9-10. By the blast of God they perish, &c. — These two verses are thus interpreted by Heath: By the breath of God they perish; for, at the blast of his anger, the roarings of the lion, and the growling of the black lion, are hushed, and the teeth of the young lions are broken; that is, by the mere breath of God’s displeasure, or by a secret, and often undiscerned, but mighty and irresistible calamity, their projects are blasted, and they are suddenly carried away, as chaff by the wind, and come to a fearful end. Nor can they escape, were they even as strong as lions, yea, as the strongest and fiercest of them. For when the divine wrath is once kindled against them, their power is immediately broken, and in a moment they are cut off, and totally consumed. He speaks of powerful tyrants, fitly compared to lions, Eze 32:2; Eze 38:13; 2Ti 4:17, who, though for a time they persecute and oppress other men, yet in due time they are restrained and crushed by the mighty power of God. Possibly, he might intend secretly to accuse Job, or his children, that, being persons of great wealth and power, they had abused it to ruin their neighbours, and therefore were justly cut off.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain By the blast of God - That is, by…
By the blast of God - That is, by the judgment of God. The figure is taken from the hot and fiery wind, which, sweeping over a field of grain, dries it up and destroys it. In like manner Eliphaz says the wicked perish before God.
And by the breath of his nostrils - By his anger. The Scripture often speaks of breathing out indignation and wrath; Act 9:1; Psa 27:12; 2Sa 22:16; Psa 18:15; Psa 33:6; notes at Isa 11:4; notes at Isa 30:28; notes at Isa 33:11. The figure was probably taken from the violent breathing which is evinced when the mind is under any strong emotion, especially anger. It refers here to any judgment by which God cuts off the wicked, but especially to sudden calamity - like a tempest or the pestilence.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain breath of his nostrils--God's anger; a figure from the…
breath of his nostrils--God's anger; a figure from the fiery winds of the East (Job 1:16; Isa 5:25; Psa 18:8, Psa 18:15).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 9. The blast of God — The breath of…
9. The blast of God — The breath of God.
The breath of his nostrils — An expression used figuratively for wrath. “In the Mediterranean languages,” says Furst, “anger is conceived of as a snorting, glowing, or smoking of the nose.” Thus אַף (aph) is used both for the nostril and wrath. The lively faith of the sons of the East saw in their fiery winds, destroying life and devastating wide-spread fields of vegetation, the breath or blast of God. Thevenot, an eastern traveller, thus speaks of the effects of the Simoon: “This year, 1665, in the month of July, there died in Bassora, of that wind called Samiel, four thousand people in three weeks’ time.” — Part 2. p. 57. The air we must breathe becomes a medium of divine chastisement. The word epidemic — επι and δημος (upon the people) — takes up and transmits the sentiment of Eliphaz. The great pestilences come down upon the nations; the very winds become the dark wings upon which the dispensations of God are spread abroad over the world. The faith of the Hebrews called such visitations the visitation of God. The poisoned blast was no unloosed courser; no plaything of chance. It was the breath of God. With the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked. Isa_11:4. “As the previous verse describes retribution as a natural necessity founded in the order of the world, so does this verse trace back this same order of the world to the divine causality.” — Schlottmann.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 9. by the blast of God] Better,
9. by the blast of God] Better,
By the breath of God they perish,
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And by the blast of his anger are they consumed.
The destructive judgment of God upon the wicked is described as a fiery breath coming from His mouth, as the hot wind of the desert withers and burns up the grass, cf. Isa_40:7; Amo_1:2.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain By the blast of God they perish; rather, by…
By the blast of God they perish; rather, by the breath of God, Job_37:10. The word used (hmvgi) means always, as Professor Lee observes," a slight or gentle breathing." The slightest breath of God"s displeasure is enough to destroy those against whom it is directed. And by the breath of his nostrils are they consumed. Here "blast" would be better than "breath," for jwr is a stronger word than hmvn. Similarly, jwr is a stronger word than wdbay. The breath kills, the blast utterly consumes, transgressors.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain i.e. by His anger, as Isa 30:33; Exo 15:8;…
breath
i.e. by His anger, as Isa 30:33; Exo 15:8; Job 1:19; Job 15:30; Isa 11:4; 2Th 2:8.
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 4:9 They vanish in a blast of his anger:…
4:9 They vanish in a blast of his anger: Eliphaz understood the wind of 1:19 as divine judgment (cp. Isa 40:7; Hos 13:15).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.