Wisdom & Poetry · Old Testament
Job 19
Job 19: I know that my redeemer liveth
General context
Job answers Bildad. He asks how long they will vex his soul and break him in pieces with words, says they have reproached him ten times, and that if he has erred the error remains with himself. If they magnify themselves against him, they should know that God has overthrown him and compassed him with his net. He cries out of wrong and is not heard; God has fenced up his way, set darkness in his paths, taken the crown from his head, destroyed him on every side, removed his hope like a tree, and counted him an enemy; God's troops encamp round his tabernacle. He lists who has left him: brethren, acquaintance, kinsfolk, familiar friends, household and maids who count him a stranger, a servant who does not answer, a wife to whom his breath is strange, young children who despise him, inward friends who abhor him. His bone cleaves to his skin and he has escaped with the skin of his teeth. He begs the friends for pity because the hand of God has touched him, and asks why they persecute him as God does. He wishes his words were written in a book and graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock for ever. He says he knows his redeemer lives and will stand at the latter day upon the earth, and that after worms destroy his skin he will in his flesh see God with his own eyes and not another's. He warns the friends that if they say the root of the matter is in him, they should be afraid of the sword, so that they may know there is a judgment.
Cited passages: Job 19:1, Job 19:2, Job 19:3, Job 19:4, Job 19:5, Job 19:6, Job 19:7, Job 19:8, Job 19:9, Job 19:10, Job 19:11, Job 19:13, Job 19:14, Job 19:15, Job 19:17, Job 19:19, Job 19:20, Job 19:21, Job 19:22, Job 19:23, Job 19:25, Job 19:26, Job 19:27, Job 19:28, Job 19:29
Job 19 (KJV)
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 intreated him with my mouth.
17My breath is strange to my wife, though I intreated 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.
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Historical context
The narrator's line is Then Job answered and said; Job replies to Bildad's second speech. These ten times is Job's round number for the friends' reproaches; five speeches by the friends have been recorded by this point, so the phrase is not a count of speeches. The list in verses 13 to 19 is the fullest account of Job's household after chapter 1: brethren, kinsfolk, servants, maids, a wife, and young children. Job's wife last appeared in 2.9; the children's sake of mine own body in verse 17 is the wording as printed, and since Job's sons and daughters died in 1.19, the text does not make clear who these children are. The word redeemer in verse 25 is not identified further in the chapter; Job says this redeemer lives, will stand at the latter day upon the earth, and that Job will see God in his flesh. Whether the redeemer is God or another, and what the latter day means, are not spelled out here, and the chapter does not settle them. No response from God to these words is reported. The sword and judgment of verse 29 are Job's warning, not a narrated event.
Cited passages: Job 19:1, Job 19:3, Job 19:13, Job 19:14, Job 19:15, Job 19:17, Job 2:9, Job 1:19, Job 19:18, Job 19:25, Job 19:26, Job 19:27, Job 19:29
Literary context
The chapter is built in waves that each start with the friends and move outward. It opens with How long, the words Bildad used in 8.2 and 18.2, turned back on him. Then a run of He hath clauses in verses 6 to 13 makes God the agent of every loss, including the net that Bildad said the wicked man walks into by his own feet in 18.8; Job says God spread it. The catalogue of abandonment narrows from brethren to household to wife to children, then the skin of my teeth. The plea Have pity upon me is doubled, and it is followed by the wish for permanent writing: book, iron pen, lead, rock. The declaration I know that my redeemer liveth answers the friends' certainty with Job's own; the emphasis in verse 27 falls on for myself, mine eyes, not another. The chapter ends by reversing the threat: the friends who spoke of the wicked man's terrors are told to be afraid of the sword themselves. Zophar's reply at 20.2 begins in haste.
Cited passages: Job 19:2, Job 8:2, Job 18:2, Job 19:6, Job 19:8, Job 19:10, Job 19:11, Job 18:8, Job 19:13, Job 19:17, Job 19:20, Job 19:21, Job 19:23, Job 19:24, Job 19:25, Job 19:27, Job 19:29, Job 20:2
Key moments
- How long will ye vex my soul? (Job 19:2). Job asks how long the friends will break him with words.
- God has overthrown me (Job 19:6). Job says God has compassed him with his net.
- Crown taken from my head (Job 19:9). Job says God has stripped him of his glory.
- Abandoned by all (Job 19:14). Job says his kinsfolk have failed and his friends forgotten him.
- Skin of my teeth (Job 19:20). Job says his bone cleaves to his skin and he has barely escaped.
- Have pity upon me (Job 19:21). Job begs the friends for pity because God's hand has touched him.
- My redeemer liveth (Job 19:25). Job says he knows his redeemer lives and will stand at the latter day.
For reflection
Job wishes his words were graven in rock for ever, and then says he knows his redeemer lives. Which words does he want preserved, the accusation or the confidence, and does the text let a reader separate them?
