Job 6:8

A Cry for Death

6:8 “Oh that my request would be realized,

and that God would grant me what I long for!


tn The Hebrew expresses the desire (desiderative clause) with “who will give?” (see GKC 477 §151.d).

tn The verb בּוֹא (bo’, “go”) has the sense of “to be realized; to come to pass; to be fulfilled.” The optative “Who will give [that] my request be realized?” is “O that my request would be realized.”

tn The text has תִקְוָתִי (tiqvati, “hope”). There is no reason to change the text to “my desire” (as Driver and others do) if the word is interpreted metonymically – it means “what I hope for.” What Job hopes for and asks for is death.