Job 3:25

For one thing I feared, and it befell me,

                What I dreaded, came upon me.

In my head, this sounds like a classic literary piece. These are the types of verses that make me want to dig into Job. It puts emotion and feeling into what has happened to Job. It is not a set of facts, but an overwhelming emotional wash. Like coming face to face with a snake. For some it is a fact, and you deal with it and move on. For others it is to face your worst nightmare and you are overtaken by the raw fear of emotion and everything else is pushed away. Having seen someone near and dear to me freeze up seeing a picture of a snake, I know it is beyond control.

The various sources had some variability on the singleness of the fear, but the tone after reading them all was that Job had one singular thing that he feared. He was a capable man, living according to His love of God, and being protected by God. His only fear? That God would abandon him.

The befelling. Several sources had something akin to “had come upon me”, also “overtaken”, “happened”, and “overtaken”. None gave the unexpected tone of “befell”. It felt random and sudden to Job, and it was not gradual or natural. It was from beyond and befell fits the mood for me.

Almost all used dread, so who was I to argue. Interestingly, everyone who did not use “came upon me” in the first stitch, did in the second. One even used it in both. At this point, I was satisfied with befell in the first stitch and used “came upon me” in the second. With the mood set, it seemed acceptably placed.

I want to add more, but the next verse ends the first chapter of poetry, in spectacular fashion, and the anticipation is clouding my thoughts. I do not intend to continue trying to contemplate the one thing that I fear.

So with another week of perspective on this one, I still want to add more. To pull some deeper thoughts to go along with the verse, but my brain is fresh out. Makes me excited to start on chapter 4, but also begs me to read the pieces on all 36 verses to se how they roll. Either should be fun.