Chapter Overview
Summary
Job 19 is the THEOLOGICAL CLIMAX of Job's earlier-speeches — containing verses 25–27, the most-explicit resurrection-and-redeemer-hope in the entire book: 'I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth … in my flesh I shall see God.' Handel's Messiah immortalizes this passage in the soprano-aria 'I Know That My Redeemer Liveth.' The chapter pivots from extended-lament (vv. 1–22) to faith-breakthrough (vv. 23–27).
Notable Variants
19:25–27 'I know that my Redeemer lives' — the Bible's earliest-clearest resurrection-hope; Handel's Messiah aria; 19:25 GO'EL (kinsman-redeemer) → Christological redemption-vocabulary; 19:26 'in my flesh I shall see God' bodily-resurrection.
Structural Notes
MT Job 19 = LXX Job 19. 29 verses. THE BOOK'S RESURRECTION-HOPE PEAK (vv. 25–27).
Then responded:
'Then Job answered and said' tracks MT.
How long will you torment my soul and crush me with words?
'How long will you torment me and break me in pieces with words?' tracks MT.
Ten times now you have humiliated me. You feel no shame in attacking me.
'These ten times you have cast reproach upon me; are you not ashamed to wrong me?' tracks MT.
Even if I have truly erred, my error remains my own affair.
'And even if it be true that I have erred, my error remains with myself' tracks MT.
If you truly intend to exalt yourselves over me and use my disgrace as proof against me —
'If indeed you magnify yourselves against me and make my disgrace an argument against me' tracks MT.
Then know this: it is God who has wronged me. He has closed his net around me.
'Know then that God has put me in the wrong and closed his net about me' tracks MT.
I cry out 'Violence!' but get no answer. I scream for help, but there is no justice.
'Behold, I cry out: Violence! but I am not answered; I call for help, but there is no justice' tracks MT. CRY-OF-VIOLENCE-UNANSWERED — Habakkuk 1:2 echo.
He has walled up my road so I cannot pass; he has set darkness over my paths.
'He has walled up my way, so that I cannot pass, and he has set darkness upon my paths' tracks MT.
He has stripped my honor from me and torn the crown from my head.
'He has stripped from me my glory and taken the crown from my head' tracks MT. CROWN-STRIPPED. Christological-typology — Christ stripped-of-clothing at-the-cross (Matt 27:28); but resurrection-restores.
He demolishes me on every side until I am gone; he uproots my hope like a tree.
'He breaks me down on every side, and I am gone, and my hope has he pulled up like a tree' tracks MT.
His anger burns against me; he counts me as one of his enemies.
'He has kindled his wrath against me and counts me as his adversary' tracks MT.
His troops advance together; they build siege ramps against me and camp around my tent.
'His troops come on together; they have cast up their siege ramp against me and encamp around my tent' tracks MT.
He has driven my family far from me; those who know me have become strangers.
'He has put my brothers far from me, and those who knew me are wholly estranged from me' tracks MT. SOCIAL-ABANDONMENT — Christological-typology of Christ-forsaken (Matt 26:56 'all the disciples left him and fled').
My relatives have abandoned me; my close friends have forgotten me.
'My relatives have failed me, my close friends have forgotten me' tracks MT.
Those who live in my house and my servant women treat me as a stranger. I have become a foreigner in their eyes.
'The guests in my house and my maidservants count me as a stranger; I have become a foreigner in their eyes' tracks MT.
I call my servant, and he does not answer. I must beg him with my own mouth.
'I call to my servant, but he gives me no answer; I must plead with him with my mouth for mercy' tracks MT.
My breath is repulsive to my wife; I am loathsome to my own children.
'My breath is strange to my wife, and I am a stench to the children of my own mother' tracks MT.
Even young children despise me. When I rise, they mock me.
'Even young children despise me; when I rise they talk against me' tracks MT.
All my closest friends despise me; those I loved have turned against me.
'All my intimate friends abhor me, and those whom I loved have turned against me' tracks MT.
My bones cling to my skin and my flesh; I have escaped with nothing but the skin of my teeth.
'My bones stick to my skin and to my flesh, and I have escaped by the skin of my teeth' tracks MT. SKIN-OF-MY-TEETH proverbial-phrase. The 'barely-escaped' idiom enters world-language from this verse.
Have pity on me! Have pity on me! You are my friends! For the hand of God has struck me.
'Have mercy on me, have mercy on me, O you my friends, for the hand of God has touched me!' tracks MT. DOUBLE-MERCY plea.
Why do you pursue me the way God does? Why are you never satisfied with my flesh?
'Why do you, like God, pursue me? Why are you not satisfied with my flesh?' tracks MT.
If only my words were written down! If only they were inscribed in a scroll!
'Oh that my words were written! Oh that they were inscribed in a book!' tracks MT. JOB'S DESIRE-FOR-PERMANENT-INSCRIPTION — and ironically-fulfilled by the very book of Job becoming canon.
With an iron stylus and lead, chiseled into rock forever!
'Oh that with an iron pen and lead they were engraved in the rock forever!' tracks MT. INSCRIBED-IN-ROCK — permanence-of-witness.
But I — I know that my Redeemer lives, and that at the last he will stand upon the earth.
Masoretic (WLC)
וַאֲנִי יָדַעְתִּי גֹּאֲלִי חָי וְאַחֲרוֹן עַל־עָפָר יָקוּם
For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth
Septuagint (LXX)
οἶδα γὰρ ὅτι ἀέναός ἐστιν ὁ ἐκλύειν με μέλλων ἐπὶ γῆς
For I know that he is eternal, who is about to deliver me upon the earth
THE BOOK'S RESURRECTION-HOPE PEAK. The Hebrew 'I know that my GO'EL (Redeemer-Kinsman) LIVES (chai)' is one of the OT's strongest Christ-anticipations. The go'el is the kinsman-redeemer figure (Lev 25:25, Ruth 3–4) — the closest-relative who buys-back forfeited-property and avenges blood. Job invokes a divine-kinsman-redeemer who will-vindicate-him.
LXX-DIVERGENCE: The LXX renders 'go'el chai' as 'eternal-one who is about to deliver me' — losing the kinsman-redeemer concreteness for a more abstract 'eternal-deliverer.' This is a notable-LXX softening; later Greek-Christian-tradition (Theodotion, Origen) restored more-literal renderings.
HANDEL'S MESSIAH. The aria 'I Know That My Redeemer Liveth' (Messiah, Part III, no. 45) opens-with this verse, leading-into 1 Cor 15:20's 'now is Christ risen from the dead.' Christ is identified-with the Redeemer Job-saw-from-afar.
1 PETER 1:18 GO'EL theology: 'you were ransomed (elytrōthēte) from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers … with the precious blood of Christ.' Galatians 3:13 ('Christ redeemed us') and Titus 2:14 ('who gave himself for us to redeem us') extend Christologically the Job-go'el confession.
Even after my skin has been stripped away, from my flesh I will see God.
Masoretic (WLC)
וְאַחַר עוֹרִי נִקְּפוּ־זֹאת וּמִבְּשָׂרִי אֶחֱזֶה אֱלוֹהַּ
And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God
Septuagint (LXX)
ἀναστήσαι τὸ δέρμα μου τὸ ἀνατλῶν ταῦτα παρὰ γὰρ κυρίου ταῦτά μοι συνετελέσθη
To raise up my skin which has endured these things; for these things have been accomplished by the Lord upon me
BODILY-RESURRECTION HOPE. The Hebrew 'IN MY FLESH I SHALL SEE GOD' (mibbesari echezeh eloah) is one of the OT's strongest bodily-resurrection statements. Job affirms post-mortem-bodily-vision-of-God. The LXX's 'raise-up-my-skin' (anastēsai to derma mou) preserves the resurrection-anastasis vocabulary — anastēsai is the verb of-Christ's-resurrection (Acts 2:24, 32; etc.).
1 Corinthians 15:42–44 ('it is sown a perishable body; it is raised an imperishable body') and Philippians 3:21 ('he will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body') Christologically extend.
1 JOHN 3:2 fulfillment: 'we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall SEE HIM AS HE IS.' Job's hope of bodily-vision-of-God is Christologically-completed at the parousia.
I myself will see him — my own eyes will look on him, not a stranger's. My heart faints within me with longing.
'Whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. My heart faints within me!' tracks MT. WHOM-I-MYSELF-SHALL-SEE — first-person resurrection certainty. Personal-eschatological-vision.
If you say, 'How shall we pursue him?' — and 'The root of the problem lies in him' —
'If you say: How we will pursue him! and: The root of the matter is found in him' tracks MT.
Then fear the sword yourselves! For wrath brings the punishment of the sword, so that you may know: there is a judgment.
'Be afraid of the sword, for wrath brings the punishment of the sword, that you may know there is a judgment' tracks MT. JUDGMENT-IS-COMING. Closing-warning to the friends.