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Wisdom & Poetry · Old Testament

Job 13

Job 13: Job silences the friends and asks God for a hearing

General context

Job continues. He says his eye has seen and his ear understood all this; what the friends know he knows, and he is not inferior. He wants to speak to the Almighty and reason with God. He calls the friends forgers of lies and physicians of no value, and says their wisdom would be to hold their peace. He asks whether they will speak wickedly or deceitfully for God and accept his person, asks whether it is good that God should search them out, says God will surely reprove them if they secretly accept persons, and that God's dread should fall on them; their remembrances are ashes and their bodies clay. He tells them to be silent and let him speak, whatever comes. He takes his flesh in his teeth and his life in his hand: though God slay him he will trust in him, yet he will maintain his own ways before him, and God will be his salvation, since a hypocrite will not come before him. He has ordered his cause and knows he will be justified; if he stays silent he will die. He then turns to God and asks two things: withdraw your hand and let not your dread frighten me; then call and I will answer, or let me speak and you answer. He asks how many his iniquities are and to be shown his transgression, why God hides his face and holds him as an enemy, whether God will break a driven leaf or pursue dry stubble. He says God writes bitter things against him, makes him possess the iniquities of his youth, puts his feet in the stocks and watches all his paths, while he wastes like a rotten thing and a moth-eaten garment.

Cited passages: Job 13:1, Job 13:2, Job 13:3, Job 13:4, Job 13:5, Job 13:6, Job 13:7, Job 13:8, Job 13:9, Job 13:12, Job 13:13, Job 13:14, Job 13:15, Job 13:16, Job 13:18, Job 13:20, Job 13:21, Job 13:22, Job 13:23, Job 13:24, Job 13:26, Job 13:27, Job 13:28

Job 13 (KJV)

1Lo, mine eye hath seen all this, mine ear hath heard and understood it.

2What ye know, the same do I know also: I am not inferior unto you.

3Surely I would speak to the Almighty, and I desire to reason with God.

4But ye are forgers of lies, ye are all physicians of no value.

5O that ye would altogether hold your peace! and it should be your wisdom.

6Hear now my reasoning, and hearken to the pleadings of my lips.

7Will ye speak wickedly for God? and talk deceitfully for him?

8Will ye accept his person? will ye contend for God?

9Is it good that he should search you out? or as one man mocketh another, do ye so mock him?

10He will surely reprove you, if ye do secretly accept persons.

11Shall not his excellency make you afraid? and his dread fall upon you?

12Your remembrances are like unto ashes, your bodies to bodies of clay.

13Hold your peace, let me alone, that I may speak, and let come on me what will.

14Wherefore do I take my flesh in my teeth, and put my life in mine hand?

15Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him.

16He also shall be my salvation: for an hypocrite shall not come before him.

17Hear diligently my speech, and my declaration with your ears.

18Behold now, I have ordered my cause; I know that I shall be justified.

19Who is he that will plead with me? for now, if I hold my tongue, I shall give up the ghost.

20Only do not two things unto me: then will I not hide myself from thee.

21Withdraw thine hand far from me: and let not thy dread make me afraid.

22Then call thou, and I will answer: or let me speak, and answer thou me.

23How many are mine iniquities and sins? make me to know my transgression and my sin.

24Wherefore hidest thou thy face, and holdest me for thine enemy?

25Wilt thou break a leaf driven to and fro? and wilt thou pursue the dry stubble?

26For thou writest bitter things against me, and makest me to possess the iniquities of my youth.

27Thou puttest my feet also in the stocks, and lookest narrowly unto all my paths; thou settest a print upon the heels of my feet.

28And he, as a rotten thing, consumeth, as a garment that is moth eaten.

This page shows the King James Version. In the app, reading opens in the Berean Standard Bible unless you have chosen another translation. The reader includes five translations: the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), the King James Version (KJV), the World English Bible (WEB), the Bible in Basic English (BBE), and the American Standard Version (ASV). Search covers three of them: Berean Standard, King James, and World English. Basic English and American Standard readers search the King James words.

Historical context

No narrator's line; this is the middle of the speech begun at 12.1. The chapter has two audiences. Verses 1 to 19 address the friends as ye; from verse 20 Job speaks to God as thou, and the plea Only do not two things unto me opens the address. Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him is joined in the same verse to but I will maintain mine own ways before him, so the trust and the self-defence are stated together. Job's demand make me to know my transgression and my sin repeats his request to Eliphaz in 6.24, now put to God; no specific sin has been named by any speaker. The iniquities of my youth is Job's phrase and he does not say what they were. The warning that God will reprove the friends for accepting persons is Job's prediction; the chapter reports no answer. The stocks and the print upon the heels are Job's images for God's treatment of him, not a narrated punishment.

Cited passages: Job 12:1, Job 13:2, Job 13:20, Job 13:15, Job 13:23, Job 6:24, Job 13:26, Job 13:10, Job 13:27

Literary context

The chapter pivots on the word speak. Job wants to speak to the Almighty in verse 3, tells the friends to hold their peace in verses 5 and 13, and asks God to let him speak in verse 22. The attack on the friends uses legal terms: they are forgers of lies, they accept his person, they contend for God as if God needed advocates. Job's question Will ye speak wickedly for God reverses the friends' position, making their defence of God the offence. The line of verse 15 balances two clauses with yet and but: trust in the one who may kill, and insistence on his own case. The two things of verse 20 pick up the conditions of 9.34, take the rod away and let not fear terrify, and the offer of verse 22, call thou, and I will answer, is Job's proposal for a hearing. The chapter closes with three pictures of smallness, a driven leaf, dry stubble, a moth-eaten garment, against a God who writes bitter things and sets stocks. The address to God continues into chapter 14.

Cited passages: Job 13:3, Job 13:5, Job 13:13, Job 13:22, Job 13:4, Job 13:8, Job 13:7, Job 13:15, Job 13:20, Job 9:34, Job 13:25, Job 13:26, Job 13:27, Job 13:28, Job 14:3

Key moments

  1. I am not inferior (Job 13:2). Job says he knows what the friends know.
  2. Physicians of no value (Job 13:4). Job calls the friends forgers of lies and worthless physicians.
  3. Speak wickedly for God? (Job 13:7). Job asks whether the friends will talk deceitfully for God.
  4. Though he slay me (Job 13:15). Job says he will trust God yet maintain his own ways.
  5. Two requests of God (Job 13:20). Job asks God to withdraw his hand and not terrify him.
  6. Show me my transgression (Job 13:23). Job asks God how many his sins are and to be shown them.
  7. Feet in the stocks (Job 13:27). Job says God has put his feet in the stocks and watches every path.

For reflection

Job says that though God slay him he will trust him, and in the same verse that he will maintain his own ways before him. Is that one attitude or two, and what would it take to hold them at once?