Job19
King James Version · Public Domain
1Then Job answered and said,
2How long will ye vex my soul, and break me in pieces with words?
3These ten times have ye reproached me: ye are not ashamed that ye make yourselves strange to me.
4And be it indeed that I have erred, mine error remaineth with myself.
5If indeed ye will magnify yourselves against me, and plead against me my reproach:
6Know now that God hath overthrown me, and hath compassed me with his net.
7Behold, I cry out of wrong, but I am not heard: I cry aloud, but there is no judgment.
8He hath fenced up my way that I cannot pass, and he hath set darkness in my paths.
9He hath stripped me of my glory, and taken the crown from my head.
10He hath destroyed me on every side, and I am gone: and mine hope hath he removed like a tree.
11He hath also kindled his wrath against me, and he counteth me unto him as one of his enemies.
12His troops come together, and raise up their way against me, and encamp round about my tabernacle.
13He hath put my brethren far from me, and mine acquaintance are verily estranged from me.
14My kinsfolk have failed, and my familiar friends have forgotten me.
15They that dwell in mine house, and my maids, count me for a stranger: I am an alien in their sight.
16I called my servant, and he gave me no answer; I entreated him with my mouth.
17My breath is strange to my wife, though I entreated for the children's sake of mine own body.
18Yea, young children despised me; I arose, and they spake against me.
19All my inward friends abhorred me: and they whom I loved are turned against me.
20My bone cleaveth to my skin and to my flesh, and I am escaped with the skin of my teeth.
21Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O ye my friends; for the hand of God hath touched me.
22Why do ye persecute me as God, and are not satisfied with my flesh?
23Oh that my words were now written! oh that they were printed in a book!
24That they were graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock for ever!
25For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth:
26And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God:
27Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me.
28But ye should say, Why persecute we him, seeing the root of the matter is found in me?
29Be ye afraid of the sword: for wrath bringeth the punishments of the sword, that ye may know there is a judgment.
Study Guide
Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for Job 19.
Chapter Summary
In this chapter: Job complains of unkind usage. (1–7). God was the Author of his afflictions. (8–22). Job's belief in the resurrection. (23–29).
vv1-7
Job's friends blamed him as a wicked man, because he was so afflicted; here he describes their unkindness, showing that what they condemned was capable of excuse. Harsh language from friends, greatly adds to the weight of afflictions: yet it is best not to lay it to heart, lest we harbour resentment. Rather let us look to Him who endured the contradiction of sinners against himself, and was treated with far more cruelty than Job was, or we can be. (Job 19:8-22)
vv8-22
How doleful are Job's complaints! What is the fire of hell but the wrath of God! Seared consciences will feel it hereafter, but do not fear it now: enlightened consciences fear it now, but shall not feel it hereafter. It is a very common mistake to think that those whom God afflicts he treats as his enemies. Every creature is that to us which God makes it to be; yet this does not excuse Job's relations and friends. How uncertain is the friendship of men! but if God be our Friend, he will not fail us in time of need. What little reason we have to indulge the body, which, after all our care, is consumed by diseases it has in itself. Job recommends himself to the compassion of his friends, and justly blames their harshness. It is very distressing to one who loves God, to be bereaved at once of outward comfort and of inward consolation; yet if this, and more, come upon a believer, it does not weaken the proof of his being a child of God and heir of glory.
vv23-29
The Spirit of God, at this time, seems to have powerfully wrought on the mind of Job. Here he witnessed a good confession; declared the soundness of his faith, and the assurance of his hope. Here is much of Christ and heaven; and he that said such things are these, declared plainly that he sought the better country, that is, the heavenly. Job was taught of God to believe in a living Redeemer; to look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come; he comforted himself with the expectation of these. Job was assured, that this Redeemer of sinners from the yoke of Satan and the condemnation of sin, was his Redeemer, and expected salvation through him; and that he was a living Redeemer, though not yet come in the flesh; and that at the last day he would appear as the Judge of the world, to raise the dead, and complete the redemption of his people. With what pleasure holy Job enlarges upon this! May these faithful sayings be engraved by the Holy Spirit upon our hearts. We are all concerned to see that the root of the matter be in us. A living, quickening, commanding principle of grace in the heart, is the root of the matter; as necessary to our religion as the root of the tree, to which it owes both its fixedness and its fruitfulness. Job and his friends differed concerning the methods of Providence, but they agreed in the root of the matter, the belief of another world.
Key Words
אִיּוֹב: Ijob, the patriarch famous for his patience
עָנָה: properly, to eye or (generally) to heed, i.e. pay attention; by implication, to respond; by extension to begin to speak; specifically to sing, shout, testify, announce
אָמַר: to say (used with great latitude)
אָן: where?; hence, whither?, when?; also hither and thither
עַד: as far (or long, or much) as, whether of space (even unto) or time (during, while, until) or degree (equally with)
יָגָה: to grieve
נֶפֶשׁ: properly, a breathing creature, i.e. animal of (abstractly) vitality; used very widely in a literal, accommodated or figurative sense (bodily or mental)
דָּכָא: to crumble; transitively, to bruise (literally or figuratively)
מִלָּה: a word; collectively, a discourse; figuratively, a topic
זֶה: the masculine demonstrative pronoun, this or that
Cross References
Job 19Poole and Henry connect Job's hope in the resurrection to Psalm 16:9's flesh resting in hope.
Supported by Matthew Henry, Matthew Poole
Matches the imagery of being hedged/fenced in so that one cannot pass.
Supported by Matthew Poole
JFB links the estrangement of Job's loved ones to Christ's desertion prefigured in Psalm 38:11.
Supported by JFB
Job's estrangement from friends and kinsmen typifies Christ's acquaintances standing afar off.
Supported by JFB
JFB identifies the estrangement from family (mother's children) as foreshadowing Christ's experience.
Supported by JFB
Poole and JFB note 'ten times' is an idiomatic term for 'many times' as in Genesis.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Poole points to this verse as another scriptural example of 'ten times' meaning 'many times'.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Uses identical imagery of the crown falling or being taken from the head.
Supported by JFB
Parallel complaint where Job explicitly asks why God counts him as His enemy.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Identifies the terrible trial of being counted and treated by God as an enemy.
Supported by JFB
JFB notes the same physical affliction of bones cleaving to the skin/flesh from weeping.
Supported by JFB
Job directly retorts Bildad's initial questioning query from the previous chapter.
Supported by JFB
Parallel regarding adversaries magnifying themselves when a sufferer's foot slips.
Supported by JFB
Job directly answers Bildad's net metaphor, asserting it was God who netted him.
Supported by JFB
Relates to Job's ongoing defense that 'the root of the matter' or sound wisdom is in him.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Illustrates ancient practices of writing or engraving words permanently on stone.
Supported by Matthew Poole