Job 19:20

Job 19:20 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)My bone cleaveth to my skin and to my flesh, and I am escaped with the skin of my teeth.
• New International Version (NIV)I am nothing but skin and bones; I have escaped only by the skin of my teeth.
• English Standard Version (ESV)My bones stick to my skin and to my flesh, and I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.
• New King James Version (NKJV)My bone clings to my skin and to my flesh, And I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.

Context of Job 19:20

18Even young children despise me; If I arise, they speak against me. 19All my familiar friends abhor me, And they whom I loved are turned against me. My bone cleaveth to my skin and to my flesh, And I am escaped with the skin of my teeth. 21Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O ye my friends; For the hand of God hath touched me. 22Why do ye persecute me as God, And are not satisfied with my flesh?

Job 19:20 word by word

בְּעוֹרִ֣י וּ֭בִבְשָׂרִי דָּבְקָ֣ה עַצְמִ֑י וָ֝אֶתְמַלְּטָ֗ה בְּע֣וֹר שִׁנָּֽי׃Read the interlinear

• boneעֶ֫צֶם‛etsem · boneH6106
• skinעוֹר‛ôr · skinH5785
• fleshבָּשָׂרbâώâr · fleshH1320
• escapedמָלַטmâlaţ · to escapeH4422
• teethשֵׁןshên · toothH8127

Cross-references for Job 19:20

• Job 30:30My skin is black, and fallethfrom me, And my bones are burned with heat.
• Job 33:19He is chastened also with pain upon his bed, And with continual strife in his bones;
• Psalms 22:14I am poured out like water, And all my bones are out of joint: My heart is like wax; It is melted within me.
• Psalms 32:3When I kept silence, my bones wasted away Through my groaning all the day long.
• Psalms 38:3There is no soundness in my flesh because of thine indignation; Neither is there any health in my bones because of my sin.
• Psalms 102:3For my days consume away like smoke, And my bones are burned as a firebrand.
• Lamentations 4:8Their visage is blacker than a coal; they are not known in the streets: Their skin cleaveth to their bones; it is withered, it is become like a stick.
• Amos 2:4Thus saith Jehovah: For three transgressions of Judah, yea, for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have rejected the law of Jehovah, and have not kept his statutes, and their lies have caused them to err, after which their fathers did walk.
• Amos 7:5Then said I, O Lord Jehovah, cease, I beseech thee: how shall Jacob stand? for he is small.
• Lamentations 3:4My flesh and my skin hath he made old; he hath broken my bones.
• Lamentations 5:10Our skin is black like an oven, Because of the burning heat of famine.

Commentaries on Job 19:20

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 20My bone cleaveth to my skin - My flesh is entirely wasted away, and nothing but skin and bone left. I am escaped with the skin of my teeth - I have had the most narrow escape. If I still live, it is a thing to be wondered at, my sufferings and privations have been so great. To escape with the skin of the teeth seems to have been a proverbial expression, signifying great difficulty. I had as narrow an escape from death, as the thickness of the enamel on…Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 20My bone cleaveth to my skin and to my flesh - The meaning of this probably is, “my skin and flesh are dried up so that the bone seems adhere to the skin, and so tht the form of the bone becomes visible.” It is designed to denote a state of great emaciation, and describes an effect which we often see. And I am escaped with the skin of my teeth - A very difficult expression, and which has greatly perplexed commentators, and on whose meaning they are by no…Read the comment
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 8-22Verses 8-22 How doleful are Job's complaints! What is the fire of hell but the wrath of God! Seared consciences will feel it hereafter, but do not fear it now: enlightened consciences fear it now, but shall not feel it hereafter. It is a very common mistake to think that those whom God afflicts he treats as his enemies. Every creature is that to us which God makes it to be; yet this does not excuse Job's relations and friends. How uncertain is the…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 20escaped by the skin of my teeth: This figure of speech means a narrow escape. In Hebrew, it might also suggest that Job became as thin as a skeleton with a skull full of teeth.Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 2020. Extreme meagerness. The bone seemed to stick in the skin, being seen through it, owing to the flesh drying up and falling away from the bone. The Margin, "as to my flesh," makes this sense clearer. The English Version, however, expresses the same: "And to my flesh," namely, which has fallen away from the bone, instead of firmly covering it. skin of my teeth--proverbial. I have escaped with bare life; I am whole only with the skin of my teeth; that is…Read the comment

Topics related to Job 19:20

• Afflictions and Adversities
• Friendship

In the dictionaries

• Acquaintance
• Fence
• Mouth
• Net
• Skin

Commentaries on Job 19

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Rashi on Tanakh
• Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings