My breath is strange to my wife, and I am a stench to the children of my own mother.
English Standard Version (ESV)
Job is expressing the depth of his isolation: even his closest family bonds feel alien, as if his very presence and voice are unwelcome and foreign. This wasn't just about his physical suffering, but the profound emotional distance that had opened up, making him a stranger in his own home and to his own kin.
My breath is strange to my wife, and I am a stench to the children of my own mother.
English Standard Version (ESV)
Job is feeling utterly abandoned, first by his servant and now by his own wife and even his own siblings. His physical suffering has made him repulsive, causing his wife to distance herself and his family to avoid him. He laments this profound isolation, where even his closest relationships offer no comfort or help.
Job's suffering isn't just physical; it's become a repulsive stench that drives away his closest loved ones. What does this say about how society treats the deeply afflicted?
Job feels utterly abandoned, so much so that his very presence is offensive.
A Repulsive Reality
His breath, a fundamental aspect of being alive and present, is now 'strange' and loathsome to his wife. This isn't just about bad breath; it signifies a profound alienation. His physical decay has made him literally repulsive.
Pushed to the Margins
This estrangement extends beyond his wife to his own siblings ('children of my own mother' in some interpretations). He's not just sick; he's become an outcast in his own family, a pariah whose affliction makes him untouchable. This highlights the agonizing experience of isolation when one is suffering intensely.
In his deepest despair, Job desperately tries to connect with his wife by invoking their shared past. What does this tell us about the power of memory in relationships?
Job's appeal to his wife is a raw attempt to pierce through her apparent indifference by reminding her of their most intimate bond: their children.
The Pledges of Love
When Job says, 'though I intreated for the children's sake of mine own body,' he's likely referring to the children they had together. These children were the tangible proof of their love and union, the 'seals of their mutual affection.'
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A Shared Grief
Even though his children are gone, Job appeals to the memory of them. He's essentially saying, 'Remember us? Remember our joy in them? Remember our shared grief now that they are lost? Can't that bond move you?' It's a heartbreaking plea, highlighting how shared experiences, even painful ones, can be a foundation for connection. His wife’s inability to respond to this deeply personal appeal underscores the depth of his isolation.
Understand the original words
rūaḥ · Hebrew Noun
The spirit, life-force, or vital breath given by God to animate living beings; often associated with the soul or the essence of an individual's character.
Job's profound suffering isn't just theological; it's deeply personal and isolating. In this verse, he expresses the utter breakdown of his most intimate relationships, feeling utterly estranged even from his wife and implicitly lamenting the loss of the children who once bound them together.
c. 2000 BC - 1500 BC
Job's Life in Ancient Near East
The Book of Job is traditionally set in the patriarchal period, before the Law of Moses, possibly during the time of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This era was characterized by nomadic lifestyles, tribal structures, and a direct relationship with God.
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Job's Great Wealth and Family
Prior to his suffering, Job was the greatest man in the East, blessed with immense wealth, a large family, and respected in his community. This period highlights his initial prosperity and piety.
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Satan's Challenge and God's Permission
A heavenly council convenes, where Satan accuses Job of serving God only for blessings. God permits Satan to test Job, stripping him of wealth and family, but forbidding him to take Job's life.
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Destruction of Job's Children and Wealth
Waves of calamity strike Job: raiders steal his livestock, fire consumes his sheep, Chaldeans seize his camels, and a great wind destroys the house where his children were feasting, killing them all.
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Job Afflicted with Sores
Job himself is afflicted with terrible, painful sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. This physical suffering adds to his overwhelming despair.
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Job's Wife's Counsel
Job's wife, overwhelmed by their suffering, tells him to curse God and die, but Job rebukes her, highlighting his continued faith despite his agony.
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Job's Friends Arrive and Lament
Three friends, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, come to comfort Job. Seeing his horrific state, they sit with him in silence for seven days before beginning their dialogues.
This passage echoes Job's deep isolation, where even his closest loved ones, like friends and companions, stand at a distance due to his suffering. It highlights how severe affliction can alienate one from those who should be closest.
Lamentations 1:2Jeremiah's lament over Jerusalem's desolation shares a similar tone of abandonment and sorrow, where former lovers and friends have turned against the city. This connection emphasizes the profound pain of being deserted by those you expected comfort from.
Matthew 10:36Jesus' warning that 'a man's enemies will be those of his own household' speaks to a spiritual reality that Job is experiencing physically. This verse illuminates the painful truth that even family can become a source of opposition or estrangement, especially for those following God.
Psalm 88:8The psalmist in Psalm 88:8 cries out, 'You have caused my loved ones to shun me and made me a horror to them.' This verse is a direct parallel to Job's experience, showing that this feeling of being a loathsome burden even to those closest is a cry that has echoed through the ages of faith.
Isaiah 53:3This prophecy describes the Suffering Servant as 'despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.' Job's extreme alienation and suffering, where he is a 'stench' to his own family, foreshadows the ultimate rejection and suffering of Christ, who bore our griefs and sicknesses.
clarkeJob 19:17: "My breath is strange to my wife, though I intreated for the children's sake of mine own body."
Though I entreated for the children's sake of mine own body - This may imply no more than adjuring her by the tenderest ties, by their affectionate intercourse, and consequently by the children which had been the seals of their mutual affection, though these children were no more. But the mention of his children in this place may intimate that he had still some remaining; that there might…
pooleJob 19:17: "My breath is strange to my wife, though I intreated for the children's sake of mine own body."
To my wife; who by reason of the stink of my breath and sores denied me her company. For the children’s sake of mine own body; by these pledges of our mutual and matrimonial tie and affection, the children which came out of my loins, and were begotten by me upon her body. But divers render the words thus, and I entreated the children of my own body , i.e. either some of Job’s younger child…
Job is expressing the depth of his isolation: even his closest family bonds feel alien, as if his very presence and voice are unwelcome and foreign. This wasn't just about his physical suffering, but the profound emotional distance that had opened up, making him a stranger in his own home and to his own kin.
Job is feeling utterly abandoned, first by his servant and now by his own wife and even his own siblings. His physical suffering has made him repulsive, causing his wife to distance herself and his family to avoid him. He laments this profound isolation, where even his closest relationships offer no comfort or help.
Job is feeling utterly abandoned, first by his servant and now by his own wife and even his own siblings. His physical suffering has made him repulsive, causing his wife to distance herself and his family to avoid him. He laments this profound isolation, where even his closest relationships offer no comfort or help.
"My breath is strange to my wife, and I am a stench to the children of my own mother." — Job is expressing the depth of his isolation: even his closest family bonds feel alien, as if his very presence and voice are unwelcome and foreign. This wasn't just about his physical suffering, but…
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Last reviewed October 2026