1 And Job answers and says: 2 “Also—today my complaint [is] bitter, || My hand has been heavy because of my sighing. 3 O that I had known—and I find Him, || I come to His seat, 4 I arrange the cause before Him, || And fill my mouth [with] arguments. 5 I know the words He answers me, || And understand what He says to me. 6 Does He strive with me in the abundance of power? No! Surely He puts [it] in me. 7 There the upright reason with Him, || And I escape from mine who is judging—forever. 8 Behold, I go forward—and He is not, || And backward—and I do not perceive Him. 9 [To] the left in His working—and I do not see, || He is covered [on] the right, and I do not behold. 10 For He has known the way with me, || He has tried me—I go forth as gold. 11 My foot has laid hold on His step, || I have kept His way, and do not turn aside, 12 The command of His lips, and I do not depart. I have laid up above my allotted portion || The sayings of His mouth. 13 And He [is] in one [mind], || And who turns Him back? And His soul has desired—and He does [it]. 14 For He completes my portion, || And many such things [are] with Him. 15 Therefore, I am troubled at His presence, I consider, and am afraid of Him. 16 And God has made my heart soft, || And the Mighty has troubled me. 17 For I have not been cut off before darkness, || And before me He covered thick darkness.”
Job · Literal Standard Version
Job 23 Literal Standard Version
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
Cross references (16)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 2 Job 10:1; Job 7:11; Psalm 32:4; Job 6:2–3; Psalm 77:2–9
- 3 Job 16:21; Job 31:35–37; Hebrews 4:6; Jeremiah 14:7; Job 13:3
- 4 Job 13:18; Daniel 9:18–19; Job 37:19; Genesis 18:25–32; Joshua 7:8–9
- 5 1 Corinthians 4:3–4; Job 13:22–23; Job 10:2; Job 42:2–6
- 6 2 Corinthians 12:9–10; Job 13:21; Job 9:33–34; Ezekiel 20:35; Job 9:19
- 7 Job 13:3; Isaiah 1:18; Romans 8:1; Jeremiah 12:1; Jeremiah 3:5
- 8 Psalm 10:1; Job 9:11; Job 35:14; 1 Timothy 6:16; Psalm 13:1–3
- 9 Isaiah 8:17; Psalm 89:46
- 10 James 1:12; 1 Peter 1:7; James 1:2–4; Psalm 139:1–3; Zechariah 13:9
- 11 Psalm 44:18; 2 Peter 2:20–22; Psalm 17:5; Psalm 125:5; Romans 2:7
- 12 Jeremiah 15:16; Psalm 119:11; Psalm 119:103; John 4:34; Psalm 19:9–10
- 13 Psalm 115:3; Proverbs 19:21; Isaiah 46:10; Daniel 4:35; Job 12:14
- 14 1 Thessalonians 3:3; 1 Thessalonians 5:9; Psalm 97:2; Romans 11:33; Isaiah 40:27–28
- 15 Psalm 119:120; Job 31:23; Psalm 77:3; Job 10:15; Job 23:3
- 16 Psalm 22:14; Job 27:2; Isaiah 6:5; Psalm 88:16; Deuteronomy 20:3
- 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).
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)