Job 13 · ESV Study Bible

Job Continues: Still I Will Hope in God

JOB 13 “Behold, my eye has seen all this,

my ear has heard and understood it.

2 c What you know, I also know;

I am not inferior to you.

3[^][†] d But I would speak to the Almighty,

and I desire to e argue my case with God.

4[†] As for you, f you whitewash with lies;

g worthless physicians are you all.

5 Oh that you would h keep silent,

and it would be your wisdom!

6[†] Hear now my argument

and listen to the pleadings of my lips.

7 Will you i speak falsely for God

and speak i deceitfully for him?

8 Will you show partiality toward him?

Will you j plead the case for God?

9 Will it be well with you when he k searches you out?

Or l can you deceive him, as one deceives a man?

10 He will surely rebuke you

if in secret you show partiality.

11[†] Will not his m majesty terrify you,

and the dread of him fall upon you?

12 Your maxims are proverbs of n ashes;

your defenses are defenses of clay.

13 “Let me have silence, and I will speak,

and let come on me what may.

14 Why should I take my flesh in my teeth

and o put my life in my hand?

15[^][†] p Though he slay me, I will q hope in him; [1]

yet I will r argue my ways to his face.

16[†] This will be my salvation,

that the godless shall not come before him.

17 s Keep listening to my words,

and let my declaration be in your ears.

18 Behold, I have t prepared my case;

I know that I shall be in the right.

19 u Who is there who will contend with me?

For then I would be silent and die.

20[†] Only grant me two things,

then I will not v hide myself from your face:

21 w withdraw your hand far from me,

and let not x dread of you terrify me.

22 y Then call, and I will answer;

or let me speak, and you reply to me.

23 How many are my iniquities and my sins?

z Make me know my transgression and my sin.

24 Why a do you hide your face

and b count me as your enemy?

25 Will you frighten c a driven leaf

and pursue dry d chaff?

26[†] For you e write bitter things against me

and make me inherit f the iniquities of my youth.

27[†] You put my feet in g the stocks

and h watch all my paths;

you set a limit for [2] the soles of my feet.

28[†] Man [3] wastes away like i a rotten thing,

like a garment that is j moth-eaten.

JOB—NOTE ON 13:4 you whitewash with lies. The image of applying “whitewash” is not itself negative, but refers to the process of repairing something that is cracked or broken (e.g., a pot) by smearing it with a material that would both bond the pieces and seal the cracks. Job’s contention with his friends is that they have sought to “whitewash” the situation with what they ought to know is not true about either Job or God.

JOB—NOTE ON 13:28–14:22 In this section of lament before God, Job moves from referring primarily to his own situation (13:20–27) to focus on the nature of life for any mortal.

JOB—NOTE ON 13:15 Job is aware of the force of his own argument in 12:17–25, yet cannot avoid taking the risk that God will slay him. I will hope in him. “Hope” is to wait for something; waiting may or may not be patient, and it may or may not be with a positive expectation. Job is impatient and expects his life will end shortly. Job will not wait; he is willing to risk his life to make his case against God (but cf. 14:19).

JOB—NOTE ON 13:3–19 Before he turns to God in lament, Job argues that his friends have both misdiagnosed him (he calls his friends “worthless physicians” in v. 4) and misrepresented God (see vv. 7–10).

JOB—NOTE ON 13:20 Only grant me two things. Job abruptly shifts from warning his friends to pleading his case with God.

JOB—NOTE ON 13:16 the godless shall not come before him. The salvation Job hopes for is that he will yet be able to make the case for his innocence before God. He anticipates that God will yet be his redeemer (see 19:25).

JOB—NOTE ON 13:11 Will not his majesty terrify you? Job questions whether his friends have taken seriously the glory and power of God in how easily and lightly they have spoken on his behalf. In a later response, Job speaks of his own fear at the thought of facing the majesty of God (31:23).

JOB—NOTE ON 13:28 Man wastes away. The speech takes another abrupt turn. Job’s thoughts on mortality are introduced with a proverb, which uses a pronoun as a generic reference to the human race (see esv footnote).

JOB—NOTE ON 13:6–10 Job uses law and present court language to make his case—he is stating his arguments. The friends are denigrating Job in their arguments and showing favoritism to his divine opponent in making their case for him (v. 8). In the end God does rebuke the friends, exactly as Job had warned (42:7–8).

JOB—NOTE ON 13:26 you write bitter things against me. Job is referring to God’s accusations against him, not to an indictment to punish him with suffering.

JOB—NOTE ON 13:27 you set a limit for the soles of my feet. The metaphor refers either to confinement (“set a limit for”) or to a tracing of movement (“marked”; see esv footnote). Both concepts are present: Job’s feet are in the stocks, and God watches everywhere he goes. Both cannot be true at the same time, but both express God’s vigilant pursuit of Job.