Job19
New King James Version
1Then Job answered and said:
2“How long will you torment my soul, And break me in pieces with words?
3These ten times you have reproached me; You are not ashamed that you have wronged me.
4And if indeed I have erred, My error remains with me.
5If indeed you exalt yourselves against me, And plead my disgrace against me,
6Know then that God has wronged me, And has surrounded me with His net.
7“If I cry out concerning wrong, I am not heard. If I cry aloud, there is no justice.
8He has fenced up my way, so that I cannot pass; And He has set darkness in my paths.
9He has stripped me of my glory, And taken the crown from my head.
10He breaks me down on every side, And I am gone; My hope He has uprooted like a tree.
11He has also kindled His wrath against me, And He counts me as one of His enemies.
12His troops come together And build up their road against me; They encamp all around my tent.
13“He has removed my brothers far from me, And my acquaintances are completely estranged from me.
14My relatives have failed, And my close friends have forgotten me.
15Those who dwell in my house, and my maidservants, Count me as a stranger; I am an alien in their sight.
16I call my servant, but he gives no answer; I beg him with my mouth.
17My breath is offensive to my wife, And I am repulsive to the children of my own body.
18Even young children despise me; I arise, and they speak against me.
19All my close friends abhor me, And those whom I love have turned against me.
20My bone clings to my skin and to my flesh, And I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.
21“Have pity on me, have pity on me, O you my friends, For the hand of God has struck me!
22Why do you persecute me as God does, And are not satisfied with my flesh?
23“Oh, that my words were written! Oh, that they were inscribed in a book!
24That they were engraved on a rock With an iron pen and lead, forever!
25For I know that my Redeemer lives, And He shall stand at last on the earth;
26And after my skin is destroyed, this I know, That in my flesh I shall see God,
27Whom I shall see for myself, And my eyes shall behold, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!
28If you should say, ‘How shall we persecute him?’— Since the root of the matter is found in me,
29Be afraid of the sword for yourselves; For wrath brings the punishment of the sword, That you 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