Jacob and Job

For ^[j]what I fear comes upon me, and what I dread ^[k]encounters me.  Job 3:25  NASB

What I fear – An unfortunate translation.  By rendering this word as “fear,” we miss the point and the connections.  Even more, when the translators use “dread” in the subsequent phrase, they mix up the real meanings and miss the oxymoron.  Let’s see.

The Hebrew text reads:

כִּ֚י פַ֣חַד פָּ֖חַדְתִּי וַיֶּֽאֱתָיֵ֑נִי וַֽאֲשֶׁ֥ר יָ֜גֹ֗רְתִּי יָ֣בֹא לִֽי

The first words following the conjunction (כִּ֚י) are from the same root, paḥad.  So, literally, the phrase is “for dread I dread,” because while paḥad is a type of fear, it is much more powerful than just being afraid.

pāḥad serves as a strong verb of fearing with emphasis either on the immediacy of the object of fear or upon the resulting trembling. The verb may refer to the kind of fear aroused by a paḥad “terror”. . . Most of its occurrences are in poetic passages so that it could be considered a strong, poetic synonym for yārāʾ (q.v.).

pāḥad refers to a strong emotion of fear^[1]

This is the same word found in Genesis 31:42 and Exodus 34:7, a word we have thoroughly investigated.  What matters here is that Job repeats the word, a sign of exclamation in Hebrew.  And he doesn’t mean something that scares him.  He means something that terrifies him to death.  The very things that creep from the recesses of his consciousness, the things he would never want to think about because they are so alarming, these are the things that have overcome him.  He is living a nightmare.

It won’t take much for you to empathize.  Just for a moment, pull back that veil of protection covering the repressed murmurs of the darkest parts in your soul.  Let the demons out and feel pāḥad, a place where all order and purpose vanish, overcome by sheer chaos and misery.  Now you know what kind of fear confronts Job.  Can you even name these specters of evil?  Dare you name them?

But Job isn’t finished.  Next we have yāgōr:

The basic meaning is “to fear something with great dread” (similar to pāḥad q.v.). yārēʾ (q.v.) has nuances of “reverence.” Probably a byform of gûr “be afraid” (q.v.).

The root primarily describes “fear” of God’s discipline when one has disobeyed, or thinks he has disobeyed, God’s ways (Deut 28:60; Job 9:28; Ps 119:39). Moses “fears” when the golden calf is built (Deut 9:19).^[2]

Job’s trauma doesn’t end with terrifying dread.  It also encompasses the possibility that he has, somehow unknown to him, disobeyed—and that what now sets upon him is punishment!  It’s not enough to let the demons out of your soul.  Now Job expresses the unsettling possibility that his personal demons aren’t the issue at all.  What is happening to him is something he deserves even if he doesn’t know why.

My Italian friend Georgia tells me, “All Italians know they are guilty.  They just don’t know why.”  Such is the fate of everyone in the ancient world.  The gods are angry.  No one knows why they are angry but they are, and because they are they inflict suffering upon those who make them angry.  Since we don’t know what we have done to cause this anger, there is no remedy.  We are ignorantly guilty and unexplainably punished.  The God of Torah—of instructions in righteousness—descends into the pagan gods of vengeance.  How can a man live in such a world?

pāḥad and yāgōr—much more than just being afraid.  And there’s nothing you can do about it.  Do you know that feeling?

Topical Index: pāḥad, yāgōr, dread, fear, Job 3:25

^[1] Bowling, A. (1999). 1756 פָּחַד. In R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer Jr., & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (electronic ed., p. 720). Moody Press.

^[2] Alexander, R. H. (1999). 843 יָגֹר. In R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer Jr., & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament(electronic ed., p. 362). Moody Press.