“Have pity on me. Have pity on me, you my friends; for the hand of God has touched me.
Parallel Translations
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“Have pity on me. Have pity on me, you my friends; for the hand of God has touched me.
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Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O ye my friends; for the hand of God hath touched me.
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Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O ye my friends; for the hand of God hath touched me.
Cross-references (9)
Passages linked to Job 19:21 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Job 1:11 But stretch out your hand now, and touch all that he has, and he will renounce you to your face.”
- Psalms 38:2 For your arrows have pierced me, your hand presses hard on me.
- Job 2:5 But stretch out your hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will renounce you to your face.”
- Job 2:10 But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. What? Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?” In all this Job didn’t sin with his lips.
- Job 6:4 For the arrows of the Almighty are within me. My spirit drinks up their poison. The terrors of God set themselves in array against me.
- Job 6:14 “To him who is ready to faint, kindness should be shown from his friend; even to him who forsakes the fear of the Almighty.
- Romans 12:15 Rejoice with those who rejoice. Weep with those who weep.
- 1 Corinthians 12:26 When one member suffers, all the members suffer with it. When one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.
- Hebrews 13:3 Remember those who are in bonds, as bound with them, and those who are ill-treated, since you are also in the body.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (15 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Seeing I have these just causes to complain, condemn…
Seeing I have these just causes to complain, condemn me not as an hypocrite, specially ye which should comfort me.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Job 19:21 Have pity upon me, have pity upon…
Job 19:21 Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O ye my friends; for the hand of God hath touched me.
Ver. 21. Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, &c.] To him that is afflicted pity should be showed from his friends; and to do otherwise is to forsake the fear of the Almighty, Job 6:14; {See Trapp on "Job 6:14"} There was little either fear of God or mercy to men in that barbarous bishop of Spire, who denied to Henry IV, emperor of Germany (deposed after ten years’ reign, and hardly bestead), a poor clerkship there in a monastery of his own foundation; which caused the miserable emperor to break out into these words of Job, "Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O my friends; for the hand of God hath touched me." The Papists tell us that the souls in purgatory cry out to their friends on earth for help on this manner, and in these terms. But this is as much a fiction as purgatory itself is the pope’s invention; who must needs be extremely pitiless to suffer so many souls to lie in such great torments, when he hath power to fetch them out at his pleasure.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain O ye my friends; for such you have been,…
O ye my friends; for such you have been, and still pretend to be; and therefore fulfil that relation; and if you will not help me, yet at least pity me.
Hath touched me, i.e. smitten or afflicted me sorely, as this word is oft used; as Job 1:11; Psa 104:32.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Why do ye persecute me as God,.... As if…
Why do ye persecute me as God,.... As if they were in his stead, or had the same power and authority over him, who is a sovereign Being, and does what he pleases with his creatures, and is not accountable to any for what he does; but this is not the case of men, nor are they to imitate God in all things; what he does is not in all things a warrant to do the like, or to be pleaded and followed as a precedent by them; they should be merciful as he is merciful, but they are not to afflict and distress his people because he does, and which he does for wise ends and reasons; for such a conduct is resented by him, see Zac 1:15. God persecuted or pursued and followed Job with one affliction after another, and hunted him as a fierce lion does his prey, Job 10:16; but this was not a reason why they should do the same. Some read the words, "why do ye persecute me as those?" (p) you that profess to be my friends, why do ye persecute me as those before mentioned, as those wicked men? or "with those", with such reproaches and calumnies; but the original will not bear it:
and are not satisfied with my flesh? It was not enough that he was afflicted in his body, and his flesh was ulcerated from head to feet, and was clothed with worms and clods of dust; they were not content that his children, which were his own flesh, were tore away from him, and destroyed; and that his substance, which is sometimes called the flesh of men, see Mic 3:3; was devoured, and he was spoiled and plundered of it; but they sought to afflict his mind, to wound his spirit, by their heavy charges and accusations, by their calumnies and reproaches, and hard censures of him; he suggests, that they dealt with him more cruelly than savage beasts, who, when they have got their prey, are satisfied with their flesh; but they, who would be thought to be his friends, were not satisfied with his.
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(p) Ben Gersom.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Touched me - My spirit is touched with a…
Touched me - My spirit is touched with a sense of his wrath, a calamity of all others the most grievous.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 21. Have pity upon me] The iteration here…
Verse 21. Have pity upon me] The iteration here strongly indicates the depth of his distress, and that his spirit was worn down with the length and severity of his suffering.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Job 19:21. Have pity, have pity upon me, O…
Job 19:21. Have pity, have pity upon me, O ye my friends — For such you have been, and still pretend to be; and, therefore, fulfil that relation; and, if you will not help me, yet, at least, pity me. “Nothing can be more pathetic,” says Dr. Dodd, “than the repetition in this passage, as well as the immediate application to his friends; as if he had said, ‘You, at least, with whom I have enjoyed so intimate and friendly a correspondence; you, who more especially should exert the tender office of consolation, do you have some pity upon me, since the hand of God hath so fearfully afflicted me.’“
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Have pity on me - A tender, pathetic cry…
Have pity on me - A tender, pathetic cry for sympathy. “God has afflicted me, and stripped me of all my comforts, and I am left a poor, distressed, forsaken man. I make my appeal to you, my friends, and entreat you to have pity; to sympathize with me, and to sustain me by the words of consolation.” One would have supposed that these words would have gone to the heart, and that we should hear no more of their bitter reproofs. But far otherwise was the fact.
The hand of God hath touched me - Hath smitten me; or is heavy upon me. The meaning is, that he had been subjected to great calamities by God, and that it was right to appeal now to his friends, and to expect their sympathy and compassion. On the usual meaning of the word here rendered, “hath touched” (נגעה nâga‛âh from נגע nâga‛ ), see the notes at Isa 53:4.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain When God had made him such a piteous spectacle,…
When God had made him such a piteous spectacle, his friends should spare him the additional persecution of their cruel speeches.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain Second division — THE PITEOUS APPEAL JOB MAKES TO…
Second division — THE PITEOUS APPEAL JOB MAKES TO HIS FRIENDS FOR SYMPATHY OPENS UP AN EXTREMITY OF DISTRESS, OUT OF WHICH, AS IS SO COMMON IN THE ECONOMY OF GRACE, SPRINGS A MOST TRIUMPHANT ASSURANCE OF FAITH IN GOD’S PURPOSES OF ETERNAL GOOD TOWARDS HIM, Job_19:21-27.
The intensified storm of doubts, fears, griefs, and desolation quickly retires along the sky, and discloses a bow of peace, in beauty far transcending that of nature. Taylor Lewis supposes that a pause ensued after the repeated prayer for pity.
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21. Touched me — נגע, naga’h. The leprosy was called the stroke (nega’h) of God. (See note Job_2:8.) The most touching appeal of the leper is, even at the present day, in vain. Though he be the greatest personage, he is removed at least a mile or two from the encampment, where a small black hair tent is put up for him, while an old woman who has no relations living is given him for a nurse until he dies. No one visits him, not oven his nearest relations. He is cast off as muqatal Allah, “slain of God.” — Wetzstein.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 21, 22. Overcome by his sense of the terrible…
21, 22. Overcome by his sense of the terrible enmity of God, Job piteously cries out for the compassion of men. There is a strong antithesis between “ye my friends” and the “hand of God,” “God” (Job_19:22). The whole speech, even when the enmity of men is referred to (Job_19:13 seq.), is occupied with the thought of God, He is regarded as the cause of men’s abhorrence. Job for a moment seeks refuge with men from God’s severity.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (21) Have pity upon me.—Now comes once more an…
(21) Have pity upon me.—Now comes once more an exceeding great and bitter cry. (Comp. Job_16:20.)
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O…
Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O my friends. On the enumeration of his various woes, Job"s appeal for pity follows. We must not regard it as addressed merely to the three so-called "friends" (Job_2:11) or "comforters", (Job_16:2) Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar. It is an appeal to all those who are around him and about him, whose sympathies have been hitherto estranged (vers. 13-19), but whose regard he does not despair of winning back. Will they not, when they perceive the extremity and variety of his sufferings, be moved to compassion by them, and commiserate him in his day of calamity? For the hand of God hath touched me. To the "comforters" this is no argument. They deem him unworthy of pity on the very ground that he is "smitten of God, and afflicted"; (Isa_53:4) since they hold that, being so smitten, he must have" deserved his calamity. But to unprejudiced persons, not wedded to a theory, such an aggravation of his woe would naturally seem to render him a greater object of pity and compassion.
Touched by the hand of God.
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Job appealed to the commiseration of his friends. His was no ordinary trouble coming from external circumstances. The hand of God was upon him. Therefore his case was most pitiable.
I THE HAND OF GOD MAY HURT. His hand holds his children even in the depths of trouble. (Psa_139:10) It is a creative, sustaining, blessing hand. Yet it may also be used to smite and bruise. The coming of God is not always for the happiness of his children. He must chastise their sin and folly. Then the trouble is irresistible and overwhelming. It is the contemplation of the Divine source of his trouble that makes Job appeal to his friends as from the depths of an unfathomable misery.
II GREAT EFFECTS ARE PRODUCED BY THE MERE TOUCH OF GOD"S HAND. Job does not say that God"s hand had stricken him; he only complains that it had touched him. But that was enough to plunge him into an agony of soul. A touch of the "Traveller unknown" put Jacob"s thigh out of joint. (Gen_32:25) God is so strong and great that his slightest action is irresistible, and pregnant with tremendous consequences. But if his touch is so powerful, how terrible must be his wrathful smiting! A man could not exist for one moment if God really roused himself in anger against him.
III THE TOUCH OF GOD"S HAND SHOULD HOUSE OUR COMPASSION. The trouble is so great that all thoughts of blame should be swallowed up in a deep feeling of sympathy. Job here seems to reverse his previous conduct. Before this he had appealed from the unfairness of man to the justice of God. Now he appeals from the heavy hand of God to the brotherly compassion of a fellow-creature. Even if the contention of the three friends had been well founded, and Job had been the great sinner they assumed him to be, his sufferings were now so severe that all other thoughts should have been swallowed up in commiseration for them. It is only human to feel sympathy with suffering. The censure that hardens itself against the distresses that it regards as the just punishment of sin is harsh and cruel, and unworthy of any disciple of Jesus Christ.
IV THE HAND THAT HURTS HEALS. Even the touch of chastisement is meant in love, and if it is received in a right spirit, it will be followed by quite another touch. We ought not to be afraid of the hand of God. As it has sheltered us from the first, so it will protect and save us at last. Job was ultimately blessed by the hand of God. We have God with us in Christ, and Christ"s hands bear the nail-prints that tell of love unto death. When he touches us it is with a pierced hand. We may feel pain, but he felt more for us, and the record of his suffering is the pledge of the saving grace which he extends to all who truly seek him. When John was dismayed at his vision of the glorified Christ, the Lord laid his hand on him, and that gracious touch of sympathy dispelled his fears. (Rev_1:17) The healing touch of Christ is with us now, and it really conies from the same hand as that which hurts in our trouble. God only hurts to heal. W.F.A.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain Have pity upon me, for the hand of God…
Job_19:21
Have pity upon me, for the hand of God hath touched me.
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Christs passion
Apt illustration of a more perfect sufferer--one more holy than Job, and one involved in deeper sorrow.
I. In many respects there is an analogy between the sufferers.
1. Christ was an innocent and benevolent sufferer.
2. But when was He not a sufferer?
3. How His sufferings increased as He approached His end.
4. It was the hand of God that had touched Him.
5. Job suffered for himself, and for his own benefit; Christ, not for Himself, but for us, and in our stead.
II. How our pity should be evinced.
1. By the ordinary movement of our feelings.
2. We should awaken these feelings by the use of all means.
3. Our pity should be evinced by hatred of sin.
4. If our compassion is sincere, we shall feel a deep interest in the result of his sufferings. (F. Close, A. M.)
Compassion a human duty
Afflictions like Jobs were sufficient, one would have imagined, to have extorted a tear of pity from his most implacable foe. It would surely require none of the warm attachments and tender sensibilities of friendship to awaken compassion in the heart on such an occasion as this. With the common feelings of humanity, one would imagine it impossible to behold the afflictions of Job, and not to weep over them. These so-called friends, however, turned a deaf ear to his entreaties, and under the cloak of friendship continued to wound him by the most ungenerous and inhuman treatment. The world in which we live is full of misery. Distress appears before us in a thousand different forms; and in every shape she supplicates our notice, with an importunity which the humane and generous heart is unable to resist. Of all others, the most affecting scene of calamity which we can behold is, when a fellow creature is at once oppressed with the difficulties of want, and tormented with the pains of bodily affliction. Every man should consider himself as immediately addressed in supplications like this; for every man is, or ought to be, a friend to the wretched. Compassion is a debt which one human creature owes to another; a debt which no distinction of sect or party, no imperfection of character, no degree of ingratitude, unkindness, or cruelty will cancel, Compassion is a plant which flourishes in the human heart, as in its native soil. So great is the satisfaction which results from the sentiments of humanity, that there is scarcely any consideration which more fully vindicates the wisdom and goodness of the Supreme Being, in permitting the numerous ills of human life, than this, that they afford us an opportunity of exercising the most amiable affections, and partaking of the noblest pleasures. The exercise of this disposition is, likewise, necessary to gain the esteem and love of our brethren. And to show compassion to such as are in distress is the way to qualify ourselves for the Divine acceptance at the great day. Let us remember that to be compassionate is not merely to feel and cherish the emotions of pity in our hearts, but to embrace every opportunity of expressing them by our actions. (W. Enfield.)
Hindrances to sympathy
Sympathy is peculiarly liable to inhibition from other instincts which its stimulus may call forth. The traveller whom the Good Samaritan rescued may well have prompted such instinctive fear or disgust in the priest and Levite who passed in front of him, that their sympathy could not come to the front. Then, of course, habits, reasoned reflections, and calculations may either check or reinforce ones sympathy, as may also the instincts of love or hate, if these exist, for the suffering individual. The hunting and pugnacious instincts, when aroused, also inhibit our sympathy absolutely. This accounts for the cruelty of collections of men hounding each other on to bait or torture a victim. The blood mounts to the eyes, and sympathys chance is gone. (James, Psychology.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 19:21 The hand of God had struck Job through…
19:21 The hand of God had struck Job through the permission he gave to Satan (1:11; 2:5).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.