New English Translation
Job 16:18
18“O earth, do not cover my blood, nor let there be a secret place for my cry.
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 is reddened because of weeping, and on my eyelids there is a deep darkness, 17although there is no violence in my hands and my prayer is pure. “O earth, do not cover my blood, nor let there be a secret place for my cry. 19Even now my witness is in heaven; my advocate is on high. 20My intercessor is my friend as my eyes pour out tears to 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 22:29O land of Judah, land of Judah, land of Judah! Listen to what the Lord has to say!
- Genesis 4:11So now, you are banished from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.
- Nehemiah 4:5Do not cover their iniquity, and do not wipe out their sin from before them. For they have bitterly offended the builders!
- Isaiah 26:21For look, the Lord is coming out of the place where he lives, to punish the sin of those who live on the earth. The earth will display the blood shed on it; it will no longer cover up its slain.
- Ezekiel 24:7For her blood was in it; she poured it on an exposed rock; she did not pour it on the ground to cover it up with dust.
- Job 27:9Does God listen to his cry when distress overtakes him?
- Psalms 66:18If I had harbored sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.
- Isaiah 1:15When you spread out your hands in prayer, I look the other way; when you offer your many prayers, I do not listen, because your hands are covered with blood.
- Isaiah 58:9Then you will call out, and the Lord will respond; you will cry out, and he will reply, ‘Here I am.’ You must remove the burdensome yoke from among you and stop pointing fingers and speaking sinfully.
- James 4:3you ask and do not receive because you ask wrongly, so you can spend it on your passions.
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
New English Translation — © 1996-2016 Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C.
Commentaries