What is my strength, that I should hope? and what is mine end, that I should prolong my life?
What is my strength - so as to warrant the hope of restoration to health? a hope which Eliphaz had suggested. And what but a miserable end of life is before me, that I should desire to prolong life? (Umbreit). Having continually before me the prospect of a miserable end sooner or later, why should I prolong life, and not meet my end at once, and so be put out of pain? Maurer, as the He,brew is not the usual phrase "prolong the days" (Isaiah 53:10), but "prolong the soul or mind" х nepesh (H5315)], translates, 'be patient any longer.' But the English version is good Hebrew, and accords with the sense. Judges 16:16, margin, 'soul shortened,' the opposite of "prolonging the soul" here - i:e., be patient (as "shorten the soul" means to be vexed or impatient), favours Maurer's translation, 'patiently bear my calamities any longer' (cf. Ecclesiastes 7:8 - "The patient in spirit").