Tree of Life Version
Job 9:23
23If a scourge smites suddenly, 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.
- 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 guiltless. I have no concern for myself. I despise my life. 22It is all the same, therefore I say, ‘He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.’ If a scourge smites suddenly, He mocks the despair of the innocent. 24If the land falls into the hand of the wicked He blindfolds the faces of its judges. If it is not He, then who is it? 25“My days are swifter than a runner; they flee away without seeing goodness.
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 his sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house,
- Job 2:7So the satan departed from the presence of Adonai, and afflicted Job with painful boils, from the sole of his foot to the top of his head.
- Job 4:7Reflect now: Who, being innocent, ever perished? And where were the upright destroyed?
- Job 8:20Surely God does not spurn the blameless or strengthen the hand of evildoers.
- 2 Samuel 14:15Now the reason I came to speak this word to my lord the king is because the people have made me afraid. So your handmaid thought, ‘I must speak to the king—perhaps the king will fulfill the request of his maidservant.
- Psalms 44:22would God not have discovered it? For He knows the secrets of the heart.
- Ezekiel 14:19“Or, suppose I were to send a plague to that land and pour out My fury upon it in blood, to cut off man and beast from it.
- Ezekiel 21:13The word of Adonai came to me saying,
- Hebrews 11:36Others experienced the trial of mocking and scourging—yes, and even chains and prison.
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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