New International Version
Job 2:4
4“Skin for skin!” Satan replied. “A man will give all he has for his own life.
Job 2:4 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)And Satan answered the Lord, and said, Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life.
- English Standard Version (ESV)Then Satan answered the Lord and said, "Skin for skin! All that a man has he will give for his life.
- New King James Version (NKJV)So Satan answered the Lord and said, “Skin for skin! Yes, all that a man has he will give for his life.
- New Living Translation (NLT)Satan replied to the Lord, “Skin for skin! A man will give up everything he has to save his life.
Context of Job 2:4
2And the Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?” Satan answered the Lord, “From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it.” 3Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil. And he still maintains his integrity, though you incited me against him to ruin him without any reason.” “Skin for skin!” Satan replied. “A man will give all he has for his own life. 5But now stretch out your hand and strike his flesh and bones, and he will surely curse you to your face.” 6The Lord said to Satan, “Very well, then, he is in your hands; but you must spare his life.”
Read all of Job 2Job 2:4 word by word
וַיַּ֧עַן הַשָּׂטָ֛ן אֶת־יְהוָ֖ה וַיֹּאמַ֑ר ע֣וֹר בְּעַד־ע֗וֹר וְכֹל֙ אֲשֶׁ֣ר לָאִ֔ישׁ יִתֵּ֖ן בְּעַ֥ד נַפְשֽׁוֹ׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Job 2:4
- Esther 7:3Then Queen Esther answered, “If I have found favor with you, Your Majesty, and if it pleases you, grant me my life—this is my petition. And spare my people—this is my request.
- Isaiah 2:20In that day people will throw away to the moles and bats their idols of silver and idols of gold, which they made to worship.
- Jeremiah 41:8But ten of them said to Ishmael, “Don’t kill us! We have wheat and barley, olive oil and honey, hidden in a field.” So he let them alone and did not kill them with the others.
- Matthew 6:25“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?
- Matthew 16:26What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?
- Acts 27:18We took such a violent battering from the storm that the next day they began to throw the cargo overboard.
- Philippians 3:8What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ
Commentaries on Job 2:4
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 4Skin for skin - That is, A man will part with all he has in the world to save his life; and he will part with all by piecemeal, till he has nothing left on earth, and even be thankful, provided his life be spared. Thou hast only destroyed his property; thou hast left him his life and his health. Thou hast not touched his flesh nor his bone; therefore he is patient and resigned. Man, through the love of life, will go much farther: he will give up one…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 4Skin for skin - This is a proverbial expression, whose origin is unknown, nor is its meaning as “a proverb” entirely clear. The general sense of the passage here is plain, for it is immediately explained that a man would give everything which he had to save his life; and the idea here is, that if Job was so afflicted in his body that he was likely to die, he would give up all his religion in order to purchase life. His religion, which had berne the…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 1-13God and Satan agree to test Job, which causes his troubles and confirms his integrity (1:20–21; 2:10). None of the book's characters ever learn of this council in heaven.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 44. Skin for skin--a proverb. Supply, "He will give." The "skin" is figurative for any outward good. Nothing outward is so dear that a man will not exchange it for some other outward good; "but" (not "yea") "life," the inward good, cannot be replaced; a man will sacrifice everything else for its sake. Satan sneers bitterly at man's egotism and says that Job bears the loss of property and children because these are mere outward and exchangeable goods, but…Read the comment
Topics related to Job 2:4
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Job 2
- 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
- Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
New International Version — © NIV® 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 Biblica
Commentaries