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Wisdom & Poetry · Old Testament

Job 23

Job 23: Job longs to find God's seat and plead his cause

General context

Job answers. His complaint, he says, is still bitter, and his stroke heavier than his groaning. He wishes he knew where to find God so that he could come to his seat, order his cause before him and fill his mouth with arguments; he would learn what God would answer. He does not expect God to plead against him with great power; rather God would put strength in him, and there the righteous might dispute with him, so that Job would be delivered for ever from his judge. But he goes forward and God is not there, backward and cannot perceive him, to the left where God works and cannot behold him, to the right where God hides himself. Still, Job says, God knows the way he takes, and when tried he will come forth as gold. His foot has held God's steps; he has not gone back from the commandment of his lips, and has esteemed God's words more than his necessary food. Yet God is of one mind and cannot be turned; he does what his soul desires and performs what is appointed for Job, and many such things are with him. So Job is troubled at his presence and afraid. God has made his heart soft and the Almighty troubles him, because he was not cut off before the darkness, and the darkness has not been covered from his face.

Cited passages: Job 23:1, Job 23:2, Job 23:3, Job 23:4, Job 23:5, Job 23:6, Job 23:7, Job 23:8, Job 23:9, Job 23:10, Job 23:11, Job 23:12, Job 23:13, Job 23:14, Job 23:15, Job 23:16, Job 23:17

Job 23 (KJV)

1Then Job answered and said,

2Even to day is my complaint bitter: my stroke is heavier than my groaning.

3Oh that I knew where I might find him! that I might come even to his seat!

4I would order my cause before him, and fill my mouth with arguments.

5I would know the words which he would answer me, and understand what he would say unto me.

6Will he plead against me with his great power? No; but he would put strength in me.

7There the righteous might dispute with him; so should I be delivered for ever from my judge.

8Behold, I go forward, but he is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive him:

9On the left hand, where he doth work, but I cannot behold him: he hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him:

10But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.

11My foot hath held his steps, his way have I kept, and not declined.

12Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.

13But he is in one mind, and who can turn him? and what his soul desireth, even that he doeth.

14For he performeth the thing that is appointed for me: and many such things are with him.

15Therefore am I troubled at his presence: when I consider, I am afraid of him.

16For God maketh my heart soft, and the Almighty troubleth me:

17Because I was not cut off before the darkness, neither hath he covered the darkness from my face.

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

The speaker is Job, answering the speech of Eliphaz in the previous chapter. He does not take up Eliphaz's charges one by one; instead he asserts in general terms that he has kept God's way and not declined, and has not gone back from the commandment of his lips. The seat, cause, arguments and judge of verses 3 to 7 are court language used by Job about a hearing he imagines; no hearing takes place, and the chapter describes God as one Job cannot perceive in any direction. The four directions of verses 8 and 9 name no places. "My judge" refers to God. The "darkness" of the last verse is not explained beyond Job's statement that it has not been covered from his face. The claim to have esteemed God's words more than food is Job's own claim about himself. Nothing in the chapter dates the speech or locates it.

Cited passages: Job 23:1, Job 23:11, Job 23:12, Job 23:4, Job 23:7, Job 23:8, Job 23:17

Literary context

The speech opens with a complaint and turns at once to a wish, "Oh that I knew where I might find him!" The imagined hearing is built in conditionals: I would order, I would know, he would put strength in me. Then the search fails in four directions, three of them ending in "can not." Two pivots follow, both introduced by "But." The first is confidence: he knoweth the way that I take, and the tried man will come forth as gold. The second is dread: he is in one mind, and who can turn him? The chapter ends in the darkness that has not been covered from Job's face. Set beside Eliphaz's speech, the images answer one another. Eliphaz promised that Job would "lay up gold as dust" if he returned; Job says he will "come forth as gold" when tried, keeping the metal but changing its meaning from reward to proof. Eliphaz told him to "Acquaint now thyself with him"; Job replies that he cannot find him. Eliphaz named "darkness, that thou canst not see" as the consequence of Job's wrongs; Job ends with darkness he did not choose and cannot escape.

Cited passages: Job 23:3, Job 23:6, Job 23:9, Job 23:10, Job 23:13, Job 22:24, Job 22:21, Job 22:11, Job 23:17

Key moments

  1. A bitter complaint (Job 23:2). Job says his stroke is heavier than his groaning.
  2. Wish to find God's seat (Job 23:3). Job wishes he knew where to find God so he could come to his seat.
  3. Strength, not power (Job 23:6). Job expects God would put strength in him rather than plead against him with power.
  4. Searching every direction (Job 23:8). Job goes forward and backward and cannot perceive God.
  5. Forth as gold (Job 23:10). Job says God knows his way and that he will come forth as gold when tried.
  6. God of one mind (Job 23:13). Job says no one can turn God from what his soul desires.
  7. Darkness not covered (Job 23:17). Job ends troubled because the darkness has not been hidden from his face.

For reflection

Job says God "knoweth the way that I take" in the same speech where he cannot find him forward, backward, left or right. What does it mean to be known by someone you cannot locate?

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