Skip to the text

Job · Bible in Basic English

Job 23 Bible in Basic English

Leer en español
About BBE
  • Scholarly edition
  • OT: Masoretic Hebrew (not verified)
  • NT: Critical text (not verified)
  • Protestant (66 books)
  • Simplified language
  • 1965
  • Public domain

Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings

BBE Bible in Basic English
WEB World English Bible (Classic, with Deuterocanon)
1 And Job made answer and said,
1 Then Job answered,
2 Even today my outcry is bitter; his hand is hard on my sorrow.
2 “Even today my complaint is rebellious. His hand is heavy in spite of my groaning.
3 If only I had knowledge of where he might be seen, so that I might come even to his seat!
3 Oh that I knew where I might find him! That I might come even to his seat!
4 I would put my cause in order before him, and my mouth would be full of arguments.
4 I would set my cause in order before him, and fill my mouth with arguments.
5 I would see what his answers would be, and have knowledge of what he would say to me.
5 I would know the words which he would answer me, and understand what he would tell me.
6 Would he make use of his great power to overcome me? No, but he would give attention to me.
6 Would he contend with me in the greatness of his power? No, but he would listen to me.
7 There an upright man might put his cause before him; and I would be free for ever from my judge.
7 There the upright might reason with him, so I should be delivered forever from my judge.
8 See, I go forward, but he is not there; and back, but I do not see him;
8 “If I go east, he is not there. If I go west, I can’t find him.
9 I am looking for him on the left hand, but there is no sign of him; and turning to the right, I am not able to see him.
9 He works to the north, but I can’t see him. He turns south, but I can’t catch a glimpse of him.
10 For he has knowledge of the way I take; after I have been tested I will come out like gold.
10 But he knows the way that I take. When he has tried me, I will come out like gold.
11 My feet have gone in his steps; I have kept in his way, without turning to one side or to the other.
11 My foot has held fast to his steps. I have kept his way, and not turned away.
12 I have never gone against the orders of his lips; the words of his mouth have been stored up in my heart.
12 I haven’t gone back from the commandment of his lips. I have treasured up the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.
13 But his purpose is fixed and there is no changing it; and he gives effect to the desire of his soul.
13 But he stands alone, and who can oppose him? What his soul desires, even that he does.
14 For what has been ordered for me by him will be gone through to the end: and his mind is full of such designs.
14 For he performs that which is appointed for me. Many such things are with him.
15 For this cause I am in fear before him, my thoughts of him overcome me.
15 Therefore I am terrified at his presence. When I consider, I am afraid of him.
16 For God has made my heart feeble, and my mind is troubled before the Ruler of all.
16 For God has made my heart faint. The Almighty has terrified me.
17 For I am overcome by the dark, and by the black night which is covering my face.
17 Because I was not cut off before the darkness, neither did he cover the thick darkness from my face.
Cross references (16)

Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.

  1. 2 Job 10:1; Job 7:11; Psalm 32:4; Job 6:2–3; Psalm 77:2–9
  2. 3 Job 16:21; Job 31:35–37; Hebrews 4:6; Jeremiah 14:7; Job 13:3
  3. 4 Job 13:18; Daniel 9:18–19; Job 37:19; Genesis 18:25–32; Joshua 7:8–9
  4. 5 1 Corinthians 4:3–4; Job 13:22–23; Job 10:2; Job 42:2–6
  5. 6 2 Corinthians 12:9–10; Job 13:21; Job 9:33–34; Ezekiel 20:35; Job 9:19
  6. 7 Job 13:3; Isaiah 1:18; Romans 8:1; Jeremiah 12:1; Jeremiah 3:5
  7. 8 Psalm 10:1; Job 9:11; Job 35:14; 1 Timothy 6:16; Psalm 13:1–3
  8. 9 Isaiah 8:17; Psalm 89:46
  9. 10 James 1:12; 1 Peter 1:7; James 1:2–4; Psalm 139:1–3; Zechariah 13:9
  10. 11 Psalm 44:18; 2 Peter 2:20–22; Psalm 17:5; Psalm 125:5; Romans 2:7
  11. 12 Jeremiah 15:16; Psalm 119:11; Psalm 119:103; John 4:34; Psalm 19:9–10
  12. 13 Psalm 115:3; Proverbs 19:21; Isaiah 46:10; Daniel 4:35; Job 12:14
  13. 14 1 Thessalonians 3:3; 1 Thessalonians 5:9; Psalm 97:2; Romans 11:33; Isaiah 40:27–28
  14. 15 Psalm 119:120; Job 31:23; Psalm 77:3; Job 10:15; Job 23:3
  15. 16 Psalm 22:14; Job 27:2; Isaiah 6:5; Psalm 88:16; Deuteronomy 20:3
  16. 17 Job 19:8; Isaiah 57:1; 2 Kings 22:20; Job 18:6; Job 22:11

Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences

What the Fathers said

Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).

How these were chosen

“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).

  1. Quotes verse 23:8 Augustine of Hippo, Confessions (Book X, Chapters XXIII–XXVIII)

    Place there is none; we go both "backward" and "forward," and there is no place.

    Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 1 (1886)