Job 19

In Job 18, Bildad described at length the fate that befalls the wicked. This chapter is Job's reply to that speech. It belongs to the second cycle of debate between Job and his three friends (chapters 15–21).

Outline

• Verses 1–6: Job protests that his friends have reproached and tormented him ten times. He says that even if he has erred, his error remains his own concern. He also declares that it is God who has compassed him with His net.
• Verses 7–12: He laments that he cries out but receives no answer. He describes God as having fenced up his way, stripped him of his glory and crown, and encamped around his tent like an army.
• Verses 13–20: His brothers, kinsfolk, friends, household servants, his wife, and even young children turn away from him and despise him. His body has wasted until his bones cleave to his skin and flesh.
• Verses 21–22: He twice appeals to his friends to have pity on him.
• Verses 23–27: He wishes that his words might be engraved in rock and preserved forever. He then confesses that his Redeemer lives and that he himself will see God.
• Verses 28–29: He warns the friends who persist in attacking him that the sword and judgment await.

Key Verses

• Job 19:25: "For I know that my redeemer liveth" (KJV; rendered similarly in the Korean Revised Version). A confession of hope uttered in the midst of suffering, it is the best-known verse in the entire Book of Job.
• Job 19:26: "Without my flesh I shall see God" (as rendered in the Korean Revised Version; the KJV reads "yet in my flesh shall I see God"). This verse has been read as expressing hope beyond death.
• Job 19:21: "Have pity upon me, have pity upon me" (KJV). It voices the plea of a sufferer who longs for compassion rather than judgment.

People and Places

• Job: The speaker of this chapter.
• Job's three friends: Those whom Job addresses as "ye" and rebukes. The speaker in the preceding chapter was Bildad the Shuhite.
• Job's wife: Mentioned in verse 17 as finding Job's breath loathsome.

Points for Reflection

• The Hebrew word go'el, translated "redeemer," refers to a kinsman-redeemer, one who redresses the wrongs done to a relative and pays the price on the relative's behalf.
• Christian tradition has long read this Redeemer as a reference to Christ.
• Jewish interpretation and many modern commentators understand the Redeemer to be God Himself. Others take it to be a heavenly figure who will defend Job, like the "witness" of Job 16:19–21 or the "daysman" (arbiter) of Job 9:32–33.
• The Hebrew of verse 26 can be translated either "without my flesh" or "in my flesh." The King James Version renders it "in my flesh." Whether the verse is read as a hope of resurrection or as vindication within Job's lifetime (the righting of his wrongs and the restoration of his honor) depends on the interpretation adopted.
• The phrase in verse 27, "whom I shall see for myself," is often read alongside 1 John 3:2 in the New Testament.
• Part III of Handel's oratorio Messiah opens with the aria "I Know That My Redeemer Liveth," a setting of verse 25.

In the Korean Church

Verses 25–27 are frequently used as a text proclaiming the hope of resurrection in Easter sermons and funeral services.