New Living Translation
Job 9:23
23When a plague sweeps through, he laughs at the death 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.
- New International Version (NIV)When a scourge brings sudden death, he mocks the despair 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.
Context of Job 9:23
21“I am innocent, but it makes no difference to me— I despise my life. 22Innocent or wicked, it is all the same to God. That’s why I say, ‘He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.’ When a plague sweeps through, he laughs at the death of the innocent. 24The whole earth is in the hands of the wicked, and God blinds the eyes of the judges. If he’s not the one who does it, who is? 25“My life passes more swiftly than a runner. It flees away without a glimpse of happiness.
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 at the oldest brother’s house,
- Job 2:7So Satan left the Lord’s presence, and he struck Job with terrible boils from head to foot.
- Job 4:7“Stop and think! Do the innocent die? When have the upright been destroyed?
- Job 8:20“But look, God will not reject a person of integrity, nor will he lend a hand to the wicked.
- 2 Samuel 14:15“I have come to plead with my lord the king because people have threatened me. I said to myself, ‘Perhaps the king will listen to me
- Psalms 44:22But for your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.
- Ezekiel 14:19“Or suppose I were to pour out my fury by sending an epidemic into the land, and the disease killed people and animals alike.
- Ezekiel 21:13It will put them all to the test. What chance do they have? says the Sovereign Lord.
- Hebrews 11:36Some were jeered at, and their backs were cut open with whips. Others were chained in prisons.
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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