Christian Standard Bible
Job 16:18
18Earth, do not cover my blood; may my cry for help find no resting place.
Job 16:18 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)O earth, cover not thou my blood, and let my cry have no place.
- New International Version (NIV)“Earth, do not cover my blood; may my cry never be laid to rest!
- English Standard Version (ESV)"O earth, cover not my blood, and let my cry find no resting place.
- New King James Version (NKJV)“O earth, do not cover my blood, And let my cry have no resting place!
Context of Job 16:18
16My face has grown red with weeping, and darkness covers my eyes, 17although my hands are free from violence and my prayer is pure. Earth, do not cover my blood; may my cry for help find no resting place. 19Even now my witness is in heaven, and my advocate is in the heights! 20My friends scoff at me as I weep before God.
Read all of Job 16Job 16:18 word by word
אֶ֭רֶץ אַל־תְּכַסִּ֣י דָמִ֑י וְֽאַל־יְהִ֥י מָ֝ק֗וֹם לְזַעֲקָתִֽי׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Job 16:18
- Jeremiah 22:29Earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord!
- Genesis 4:11So now you are cursed, alienated from the ground that opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood you have shed.
- Nehemiah 4:5Do not cover their guilt or let their sin be erased from your sight, because they have angered the builders.
- Isaiah 26:21For look, the Lord is coming from his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity. The earth will reveal the blood shed on it and will no longer conceal her slain.
- Ezekiel 24:7For the blood she shed is still within her. She put it out on the bare rock; she didn’t pour it on the ground to cover it with dust.
- Job 27:9Will God hear his cry when distress comes on him?
- Psalms 66:18If I had been aware of malice in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.
- Isaiah 1:15When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will refuse to look at you; even if you offer countless prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are covered with blood.
- Isaiah 58:9At that time, when you call, the Lord will answer; when you cry out, he will say, ‘Here I am.’ If you get rid of the yoke among you, the finger-pointing and malicious speaking,
- James 4:3You ask and don’t receive because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.
Commentaries on Job 16:18
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 18O earth, cover not thou my blood - This is evidently an allusion to the murder of Abel, and the verse has been understood in two different ways: Job here calls for justice against his destroyers. His blood is his life, which he considers as taken away by violence, and therefore calls for vengeance. Let my blood cry against my murderers, as the blood of Abel cried against Cain. My innocent life is taken away by violence, as his innocent life was; as…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 18O earth - Passionate appeals to the earth are not uncommon in the Scriptures; see the notes at Isaiah 1:2. Such appeals indicate deep emotion, and are among the most animated forms of personification. Cover not thou my blood - Blood here seems to denote the wrong done to him. He compares his situation with that of one who had been murdered, and calls on the earth not to conceal the crime, and prays that his injuries may not be hidden, or pass unavenged…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 17-22Verses 17-22 Job's condition was very deplorable; but he had the testimony of his conscience for him, that he never allowed himself in any gross sin. No one was ever more ready to acknowledge sins of infirmity. Eliphaz had charged him with hypocrisy in religion, but he specifies prayer, the great act of religion, and professes that in this he was pure, though not from all infirmity. He had a God to go to, who he doubted not took full notice of all his…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 18Job's blood would testify that he was innocent and suffered without cause (compare Genesis 4:10–11; Isaiah 26:21; Ezekiel 24:7–8).Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1818. my blood--that is, my undeserved suffering. He compares himself to one murdered, whose blood the earth refuses to drink up until he is avenged (Ge 4:10, 11; Eze 24:1, 8; Is 26:21). The Arabs say that the dew of heaven will not descend on a spot watered with innocent blood (compare 2Sa 1:21). no place--no resting-place. "May my cry never stop!" May it go abroad! "Earth" in this verse in antithesis to "heaven" (Job 16:19). May my innocence be as…Read the comment
Topics related to Job 16:18
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Job 16
- 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
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
Christian Standard Bible — © 2017 Holman Bible Publishers
Commentaries