Christian Standard Bible
Job 9:23
23When catastrophe brings sudden death, he mocks the despair of the innocent.
Job 9:23 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)If the scourge slay suddenly, he will laugh at the trial of the innocent.
- New International Version (NIV)When a scourge brings sudden death, he mocks the despair of the innocent.
- English Standard Version (ESV)When disaster brings sudden death, he mocks at the calamity of the innocent.
- New King James Version (NKJV)If the scourge slays suddenly, He laughs at the plight of the innocent.
Context of Job 9:23
21Though I am blameless, I no longer care about myself; I renounce my life. 22It is all the same. Therefore I say, “He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.” When catastrophe brings sudden death, he mocks the despair of the innocent. 24The earth is handed over to the wicked; he blindfolds its judges. If it isn’t he, then who is it? 25My days fly by faster than a runner; they flee without seeing any good.
Read all of Job 9Job 9:23 word by word
אִם־שׁ֭וֹט יָמִ֣ית פִּתְאֹ֑ם לְמַסַּ֖ת נְקִיִּ֣ם יִלְעָֽג׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Job 9:23
- Job 1:13One day when Job’s sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house,
- Job 2:7So Satan left the Lord’s presence and infected Job with terrible boils from the soles of his feet to the top of his head.
- Job 4:7Consider: Who has perished when he was innocent? Where have the honest been destroyed?
- Job 8:20Look, God does not reject a person of integrity, and he will not support evildoers.
- 2 Samuel 14:15“Now therefore, I’ve come to present this matter to my lord the king because the people have made me afraid. Your servant thought: I must speak to the king. Perhaps the king will grant his servant’s request.
- Psalms 44:22Because of you we are being put to death all day long; we are counted as sheep to be slaughtered.
- Ezekiel 14:19“Or suppose I send a plague into that land and pour out my wrath on it with bloodshed to wipe out both people and animals from it.
- Ezekiel 21:13Surely it will be a trial! And what if the sword despises even the scepter? The scepter will not continue.” This is the declaration of the Lord God.
- Hebrews 11:36Others experienced mockings and scourgings, as well as bonds and imprisonment.
Commentaries on Job 9:23
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 23If the scourge slay suddenly - If calamity comes in a sudden and unexpected manner. Dr. Good, following Reiske, translates this,” if he suddenly slay the oppressor,” understanding the word scourge שׁוט shôṭ as meaning an oppressor, or one whom God employs as a scourge of nations. But this is contrary to all the ancient versions. The word שׁוט shôṭ means properly a whip, a scourge (compare the notes at Job 5:21), and then calamity or affliction sent by…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 22-24Verses 22-24 Job touches briefly upon the main point now in dispute. His friends maintained that those who are righteous and good, always prosper in this world, and that none but the wicked are in misery and distress: he said, on the contrary, that it is a common thing for the wicked to prosper, and the righteous to be greatly afflicted. Yet there is too much passion in what Job here says, for God doth not afflict willingly. When the spirit is heated with…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 1-35Job answered Bildad by describing God's universal and legal power. His speech resembles a complex legal case. It includes: A summons and response (9:3, 14–16, 19b, 32). The risk of proving himself guilty (9:20). A "mediator" (9:33–34). A question of accusation (9:12). A legal sentence (9:22). A declaration of guilt (9:28–30).Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 2323. If--Rather, "While (His) scourge slays suddenly (the wicked, Job 9:22), He laughs at (disregards; not derides) the pining away of the innocent." The only difference, says Job, between the innocent and guilty is, the latter are slain by a sudden stroke, the former pine away gradually. The translation, "trial," does not express the antithesis to "slay suddenly," as "pining away" does [Umbreit].Read the comment
Topics related to Job 9:23
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Job 9
- 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
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