"9. Even that it would please God to destroy me; that he would let loose his hand and cut me off."
{p. 288}
The commentators say that "to destroy me" means literally "to grind or crush me." (Chap. vi.)
Job despairs of final escape:
"11. What is my strength that I can hold out? And what is I end that I should keep patience?" (Douay.)
"12 . Is my strength the strength of stones? Or is my flesh of brass? "
That is to say, how can I ever bold out? How can I ever survive this great tempest? How can my strength stand the crushing of these stones? Is my flesh brass, that it will not burn up? Can I live in a world where such things are to continue?
And here follow allusions which are remarkable as occurring in an Arabian composition, in a land of torrid beats:
"15. My brethren" (my fellow-men) "have dealt deceitfully" (have sinned) "as a brook, and as the stream of brooks they pass away.
16. Which are blackish by reason of the ice, and wherein the snow is hid.