God’s Word Translation
Job 13:14
14I am biting off more than I can chew and taking my life in my own hands.
Job 13:14 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)Wherefore do I take my flesh in my teeth, and put my life in mine hand?
- New International Version (NIV)Why do I put myself in jeopardy and take my life in my hands?
- English Standard Version (ESV)Why should I take my flesh in my teeth and put my life in my hand?
- New King James Version (NKJV)Why do I take my flesh in my teeth, And put my life in my hands?
Context of Job 13:14
12“Your recollections are worthless proverbs. Your answers are absolutely useless. 13Be quiet, because I want to speak. Let whatever may happen to me ⌞happen⌟! I am biting off more than I can chew and taking my life in my own hands. 15If God would kill me, I would have no hope ⌞left⌟. Nevertheless, I will defend my behavior to his face. 16This also will be my salvation because no godless person could face him.
Read all of Job 13Job 13:14 word by word
עַל־מָ֤ה׀ אֶשָּׂ֣א בְשָׂרִ֣י בְשִׁנָּ֑י וְ֝נַפְשִׁ֗י אָשִׂ֥ים בְּכַפִּֽי׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Job 13:14
- Job 18:4Why do you rip yourself apart in anger? Should the earth be abandoned for your sake or a boulder be dislodged?
- Ecclesiastes 4:5A fool folds his hands and wastes away.
- Isaiah 9:20On the right, one gobbles up food and is still hungry. On the left, another eats and is never full. Each person eats the flesh from his own arm.
- Isaiah 49:26I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh, and they will become drunk on their own blood as though it were new wine. Then all humanity will know that I am the Lord, who saves you, the Mighty One of Jacob, who reclaims you.
- Judges 12:3When I saw that you would not rescue me, I risked my life and went to fight the people of Ammon. The Lord handed them over to me. So why did you come to fight against me today?”
- 1 Samuel 19:5He risked his life and killed the Philistine Goliath, and the Lord gave all Israel a great victory. When you saw it, you rejoiced. Why then should you sin by shedding David’s innocent blood for no reason?”
- 1 Samuel 28:21The woman came over to Saul and saw that he was terrified. “I listened to you,” she told him, “and I took my life in my hands when I did what you told me to do.
- Psalms 119:109I always take my life into my own hands, but I never forget your teachings.
Commentaries on Job 13:14
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 14Wherefore do I take my flesh in my teeth - A proverbial expression. I risk every thing on the justice of my cause. I put my life in my hand, 1 Samuel 28:21. I run all hazards; I am fearless of the consequences.Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 14Wherefore do I take my flesh in my teeth - The meaning of the proverbial expressions in this verse is not very clear. They indicate a state of great danger; but the exact sense of the proverbs it has been difficult to ascertain. Some have supposed that the phrase “to take the flesh in the teeth,” is significant of a state of famine, where a man dying from this cause would cease upon his own flesh and devour it; others, that it refers to the contentions of…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 13-22Verses 13-22 Job resolved to cleave to the testimony his own conscience gave of his uprightness. He depended upon God for justification and salvation, the two great things we hope for through Christ. Temporal salvation he little expected, but of his eternal salvation he was very confident; that God would not only be his Saviour to make him happy, but his salvation, in the sight and enjoyment of whom he should be happy. He knew himself not to be a…Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1414. A proverb for, "Why should I anxiously desire to save my life?" [Eichorn]. The image in the first clause is that of a wild beast, which in order to preserve his prey, carries it in his teeth. That in the second refers to men who hold in the hand what they want to keep secure.Read the comment
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Job 13
- 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
- EGW Writings
God’s Word Translation — © 1995 God’s Word to the Nations Bible Society
Commentaries