New International Version
Job 9:23
23When a scourge 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.
- 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.
- New Living Translation (NLT)When a plague sweeps through, he laughs at the death of the innocent.
Context of Job 9:23
21“Although I am blameless, I have no concern for myself; I despise my own life. 22It is all the same; that is why I say, ‘He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.’ When a scourge brings sudden death, he mocks the despair of the innocent. 24When a land falls into the hands of the wicked, he blindfolds its judges. If it is not he, then who is it? 25“My days are swifter than a runner; they fly away without a glimpse of joy.
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 feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother’s house,
- Job 2:7So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and afflicted Job with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head.
- Job 4:7“Consider now: Who, being innocent, has ever perished? Where were the upright ever destroyed?
- Job 8:20“Surely God does not reject one who is blameless or strengthen the hands of evildoers.
- 2 Samuel 14:15“And now I have come to say this to my lord the king because the people have made me afraid. Your servant thought, ‘I will speak to the king; perhaps he will grant his servant’s request.
- Psalms 44:22Yet for your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.
- Ezekiel 14:19“Or if I send a plague into that land and pour out my wrath on it through bloodshed, killing its people and their animals,
- Ezekiel 21:13“ ‘Testing will surely come. And what if even the scepter, which the sword despises, does not continue? declares the Sovereign Lord.’
- Hebrews 11:36Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains 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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