Job 23: What the Passage Says

The Chapter in a Sentence

Job answers his friends again, saying his complaint is still bitter. He wishes he could find God and lay out his case before him, believing God would not simply crush him with power but would let him speak. He says he cannot find God in any direction, yet God knows the way he has taken, and Job insists he has kept to God's path. He ends by saying God does whatever he has decided, and that this leaves Job afraid.

Claim by Claim

1. 23:1
   • Job answered.
   • Job spoke.
2. 23:2
   • Job says that even today his complaint is bitter.
   • Job says the hand laid on him is heavy, weighing more than his groaning.
   • It is unclear whether the hand that is heavy is Job's own hand or God's hand striking him.
3. 23:3
   • Job wishes that he knew where to find him.
   • Job wishes that he could come to the place where he sits.
4. 23:4
   • Job says he would lay out his legal case before him.
   • Job says he would fill his mouth with arguments.
5. 23:5
   • Job says he would learn the words with which he would answer him.
   • Job says he would understand what he would say to him.
6. 23:6
   • Job asks whether he would contend against him with great power.
   • Job answers no.
   • Job says that instead he would give heed to him.
   • It is unclear whether the second clause means God would pay attention to Job or would put strength in him.
7. 23:7
   • Job says that there an upright man could argue his case with him.
   • Job says he would be delivered forever from his judge.
8. 23:8
   • Job says he goes forward and he is not there.
   • Job says he goes backward and cannot perceive him.
9. 23:9
   • Job says that on the left hand, where he works, he cannot behold him.
   • Job says he turns to the right hand and he cannot see him.
10. 23:10
    • Job says that he knows the way that Job takes.
    • Job says that when he has tested him, he will come out as gold.
11. 23:11
    • Job says his foot has held to his steps.
    • Job says he has kept his way.
    • Job says he has not turned aside.
12. 23:12
    • Job says he has not departed from the commandment of his lips.
    • Job says he has stored up the words of his mouth more than his own appointed portion of food.
13. 23:13
    • Job says he is one and unchanging.
    • Job asks who can turn him back.
    • Job says that what he desires, he does.
14. 23:14
    • Job says he carries out what is decreed for Job.
    • Job says many such things are with him.
15. 23:15
    • Job says that therefore he is terrified at his presence.
    • Job says that when he considers, he is afraid of him.
16. 23:16
    • Job says God has made his heart faint.
    • Job says the Almighty has terrified him.
17. 23:17
    • Job says he was not cut off before the darkness came.
    • Job says the thick darkness has not been covered from his face.
    • It is unclear whether Job is saying he was not silenced by the darkness or complaining that he was not destroyed before it came.

Words Worth Explaining

Every language note in this chapter, gathered. These explain what a word meant, never what it means for the reader.

23:1

Job is speaking in a long back-and-forth with three friends who came to comfort him and ended up accusing him. This is his reply to Eliphaz, who has just argued that Job's suffering must be punishment for hidden wrongdoing.

23:2

"Complaint" here is not grumbling; the Hebrew word is closer to a formal grievance, the kind of case a person brings to court. The second half of the verse is uncertain in the Hebrew: the text as written reads roughly "my hand is heavy on my groaning," while ancient translators read "his hand," meaning the blow God is striking is worse than the noise Job makes about it.

23:3

"The place where he sits" is a judge's seat. From here through verse 7 Job's language is all courtroom language, finding the judge, laying out a case, presenting arguments, hearing a verdict. He is imagining a legal hearing with God as the judge on the bench.

23:4

"Order my cause" is courtroom language: to lay out your side of a dispute point by point, in the proper order, the way someone presenting evidence would. Job is not describing a prayer here, he is describing a legal defense.

23:6

The Hebrew of the second half can be read two ways: "he would put strength in me" (so that Job could stand up to the hearing), or "he would pay attention to me": that is, he would actually listen rather than simply overpower Job. The wording does not settle which.

23:7

"Honest man" translates a word meaning straight or upright. In a legal setting like this one it means the party who is in the right in the dispute, not simply a person of good character.

23:8

Hebrew describes direction as if the speaker is facing east, so "forward" is east and "back" is west; in the next verse "left" is north and "right" is south. Together the four cover every direction: Job has looked everywhere.

23:9

In the same system, if you face east then north is on your left hand and south is on your right. Verses 8 and 9 together cover all four directions: Job is saying he has looked everywhere and found nothing.

23:10

"Tested" and "come out like gold" describe metalworking: ore was heated in a furnace so the impurities burned away and the pure metal was left. The image is of being put through fire and proving genuine, not of being improved.

23:11

"Declined" in 1611 English meant turned aside or swerved off a path, not refused. The picture is of walking in someone else's footprints without once stepping outside them.

23:12

"Daily food" renders a Hebrew word whose sense is disputed, most likely "my allotted portion," the ration a person needs to live. Some read a similar-looking word meaning "in my bosom," giving "I have stored up the words of his mouth within me."

23:13

The Hebrew here reads literally "but he is in one," a famously obscure phrase. It is usually taken to mean either that God is fixed and unchanging in his purpose, or that he is alone, with no one above him to overrule what he decides.

23:14

"What he has decided for me" translates a word for a fixed allotment or decree, a portion assigned to a person, whether they want it or not.

23:15

"Troubled" is far stronger in the King James Version than it sounds today. It means struck with terror or dismay, not mildly bothered.

23:16

The King James "maketh my heart soft" does not mean tender-hearted; in older English a heart made soft was a heart melting with fear, that is, courage draining away. "The Almighty" translates the ancient title Shaddai, used far more often in Job than anywhere else in the Bible; its original meaning is uncertain, suggestions include "the mountain one" and "the mighty one."

23:17

This verse is one of the most disputed in the book. The Hebrew verb can mean either "silenced" or "destroyed, cut off," and the two negatives can be read as plain statements or as a wish. So it can mean "the darkness has not silenced me" (Job is still speaking in spite of it), or "if only I had been cut off before the darkness came" (Job wishing he had died first). "Darkness" and "thick darkness" are standard Hebrew images for disaster and death, not literal night.