What Does Job 10:20 Mean?
Are not my days few? Let him stop, and withdraw from me, that I may brighten a little.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
Are not my days few? cease then, and let me alone, that I may take comfort a little,THE KEY
The same Hebrew root marks both his days coming to an end and his plea for the pressure to stop, while one word measures both his few days and the little relief he asks for.
THE MEANING
When life feels short and pressure crowds you, this verse gives room to name a small request for relief. The hoped-for change is only a little brightness, with no claim that the pain is gone.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Relief is only real if it comes after the whole pain is gone; here, even a brief reprieve matters while pain remains.
THE ROOT
הַחֲדַל
haḥdal
GROWS FROM
חָדַל
ḥadal
To cease, stop, or come to an end.
“let him stop” in this verse is haḥdal. The days “cease” in יֶחְדָּלוּ (yeḥdalu), and the plea is “cease” in הַחֲדַל (haḥdal): both forms mean stopping or coming to an end. English separates the ending of his days from his request for the pressure to stop, while Hebrew joins them through one root.
ALSO GROWS
yeḥdalu: They cease or come to an end.
יֶחְדָּלוּ
This form describes the days ending with the same root as the plea that follows.
vayyachdelu: They stopped or left off.
וַיַּחְדְּלוּ
This form marks an activity coming to a halt, giving the plea its force as a request for stopping.
מְעַט
me'at
GROWS FROM
מָעַט
ma'at
To be few or small, or to diminish.
מְעַט (me’at) describes the few days and returns at the end as “a little” relief. The same word measures both the shortness of life and the modest size of the reprieve requested.
ALSO GROWS
him'it: He diminished or made few.
הִמְעִיט
This form shows the root as an action that reduces something in amount.
mim'at: A small amount, or from a little.
מִמְעָט
This form makes the small measure explicit, echoing the limited relief sought here.
THE PATTERN
A brief reprieve remains meaningful while larger pain and the limits of life are still present.
Look away from me, that I may brighten before I go and am no more.Come to me, all you who toil and have been loaded down, and I will give you rest.THE THREAD
If I say, I will forget my complaint, I will let go of my face and brighten.The verb וְאַבְלִיגָה (ve’avligah), meaning “I may brighten” or “recover cheer,” appears here as “comfort myself” and is the same verb behind “take comfort” in Job 10:20. Its echo makes the request concrete: a little brightness within pain, without claiming the pain is gone.
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