New International Version
Job 16:18
18“Earth, do not cover my blood; may my cry never be laid to rest!
Job 16:18 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)O earth, cover not thou my blood, and let my cry have no place.
- 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!
- New Living Translation (NLT)“O earth, do not conceal my blood. Let it cry out on my behalf.
Context of Job 16:18
16My face is red with weeping, dark shadows ring my eyes; 17yet my hands have been free of violence and my prayer is pure. “Earth, do not cover my blood; may my cry never be laid to rest! 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, land, land, hear the word of the Lord!
- Genesis 4:11Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.
- Nehemiah 4:5Do not cover up their guilt or blot out their sins from your sight, for they have thrown insults in the face of the builders.
- Isaiah 26:21See, the Lord is coming out of his dwelling to punish the people of the earth for their sins. The earth will disclose the blood shed on it; the earth will conceal its slain no longer.
- Ezekiel 24:7“ ‘For the blood she shed is in her midst: She poured it on the bare rock; she did not pour it on the ground, where the dust would cover it.
- Job 27:9Does God listen to their cry when distress comes upon them?
- Psalms 66:18If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened;
- Isaiah 1:15When you spread out your hands in prayer, I hide my eyes from you; even when you offer many prayers, I am not listening. Your hands are full of blood!
- Isaiah 58:9Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I. “If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
- James 4:3When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get 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
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Commentaries