Back to Job 19

Job 19:7-20

“Behold, I cry out of wrong, but I am not heard. I cry for help, but there is no justice.

He has walled up my way so that I can’t pass, and has set darkness in my paths.

He has stripped me of my glory, and taken the crown from my head.

He has broken me down on every side, and I am gone. He has plucked my hope up like a tree.

He has also kindled his wrath against me. He counts me among his adversaries.

His troops come on together, build a siege ramp against me, and encamp around my tent.

“He has put my brothers far from me. My acquaintances are wholly estranged from me.

My relatives have gone away. My familiar friends have forgotten me.

Those who dwell in my house and my maids consider me a stranger. I am an alien in their sight.

I call to my servant, and he gives me no answer. I beg him with my mouth.

My breath is offensive to my wife. I am loathsome to the children of my own mother.

Even young children despise me. If I arise, they speak against me.

All my familiar friends abhor me. They whom I loved have turned against me.

My bones stick to my skin and to my flesh. I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.

World English Bible · Public Domain

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Parallel Translations

  • WEB World English Bible

    “Behold, I cry out of wrong, but I am not heard. I cry for help, but there is no justice.

    He has walled up my way so that I can’t pass, and has set darkness in my paths.

    He has stripped me of my glory, and taken the crown from my head.

    He has broken me down on every side, and I am gone. He has plucked my hope up like a tree.

    He has also kindled his wrath against me. He counts me among his adversaries.

    His troops come on together, build a siege ramp against me, and encamp around my tent.

    “He has put my brothers far from me. My acquaintances are wholly estranged from me.

    My relatives have gone away. My familiar friends have forgotten me.

    Those who dwell in my house and my maids consider me a stranger. I am an alien in their sight.

    I call to my servant, and he gives me no answer. I beg him with my mouth.

    My breath is offensive to my wife. I am loathsome to the children of my own mother.

    Even young children despise me. If I arise, they speak against me.

    All my familiar friends abhor me. They whom I loved have turned against me.

    My bones stick to my skin and to my flesh. I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.

  • KJV King James Version

    Behold, I cry out of wrong, but I am not heard: I cry aloud, but there is no judgment.

    He hath fenced up my way that I cannot pass, and he hath set darkness in my paths.

    He hath stripped me of my glory, and taken the crown from my head.

    He hath destroyed me on every side, and I am gone: and mine hope hath he removed like a tree.

    He hath also kindled his wrath against me, and he counteth me unto him as one of his enemies.

    His troops come together, and raise up their way against me, and encamp round about my tabernacle.

    He hath put my brethren far from me, and mine acquaintance are verily estranged from me.

    My kinsfolk have failed, and my familiar friends have forgotten me.

    They that dwell in mine house, and my maids, count me for a stranger: I am an alien in their sight.

    I called my servant, and he gave me no answer; I intreated him with my mouth.

    My breath is strange to my wife, though I intreated for the children’s sake of mine own body.

    Yea, young children despised me; I arose, and they spake against me.

    All my inward friends abhorred me: and they whom I loved are turned against me.

    My bone cleaveth to my skin and to my flesh, and I am escaped with the skin of my teeth.

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  • JPS JPS Tanakh (1917)

    Behold, I cry out: 'Violence!' but I am not heard; I cry aloud, but there is no justice.

    He hath fenced up my way that I cannot pass, and hath set darkness in my paths.

    He hath stripped me of my glory, and taken the crown from my head.

    He hath broken me down on every side, and I am gone; and my hope hath He plucked up like a tree.

    He hath also kindled His wrath against me, and He counteth me unto Him as one of His adversaries.

    His troops come on together, and cast up their way against me, and encamp round about my tent.

    He hath put my brethren far from me, and mine acquaintance are wholly estranged from me.

    My kinsfolk have failed, and my familiar friends have forgotten me.

    They that dwell in my house, and my maids, count me for a stranger; I am become an alien in their sight.

    I call unto my servant, and he giveth me no answer, though I entreat him with my mouth.

    My breath is abhorred of my wife, and I am loathsome to the children of my tribe.

    Even urchins despised me; if I arise, they speak against me.

    All my intimate friends abhor me; and they whom I loved are turned against me.

    My bone cleaveth to my skin and to my flesh, and I am escaped with the skin of my teeth.

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Cross-references (112)

  • Job 3:23 (v8) Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden, whom God has hedged in?
  • Job 13:24 (v11) Why do you hide your face, and consider me your enemy?
  • Lamentations 3:7 (v8) He has walled me about, so that I can’t go out. He has made my chain heavy.
  • Job 30:12 (vv12, 18) On my right hand rise the rabble. They thrust aside my feet, They cast up against me their ways of destruction.
  • Psalms 88:8 (vv8, 13) You have taken my friends from me. You have made me an abomination to them. I am confined, and I can’t escape.
Show all 100 cross-references
  • Job 24:20 (v10) The womb will forget him. The worm will feed sweetly on him. He will be no more remembered. Unrighteousness will be broken as a tree.
  • Psalms 89:44 (v9) You have ended his splendor, and thrown his throne down to the ground.
  • Psalms 102:5 (v20) By reason of the voice of my groaning, my bones stick to my skin.
  • Psalms 38:11 (vv13, 14, 19) My lovers and my friends stand aloof from my plague. My kinsmen stand far away.
  • Job 16:9 (v11) He has torn me in his wrath and persecuted me. He has gnashed on me with his teeth. My adversary sharpens his eyes on me.
  • Job 33:10 (v11) Behold, he finds occasions against me. He counts me for his enemy.
  • Psalms 37:35-36 (v10) I have seen the wicked in great power, spreading himself like a green tree in its native soil. But he passed away, and behold, he was not.…
  • Psalms 41:9 (v19) Yes, my own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, who ate bread with me, has lifted up his heel against me.
  • Psalms 69:8 (v13) I have become a stranger to my brothers, an alien to my mother’s children.
  • Psalms 88:18 (v13) You have put lover and friend far from me, and my friends into darkness.
  • Proverbs 4:19 (v8) The way of the wicked is like darkness. They don’t know what they stumble over.
  • Lamentations 3:8 (v7) Yes, when I cry, and call for help, he shuts out my prayer.
  • Lamentations 3:9 (v8) He has walled up my ways with cut stone. He has made my paths crooked.
  • Habakkuk 1:2-3 (v7) Yahweh, how long will I cry, and you will not hear? I cry out to you “Violence!” and will you not save? Why do you show me iniquity, and…
  • 2 Kings 2:23 (v18) He went up from there to Bethel. As he was going up by the way, some youths came out of the city and mocked him, and said to him, “Go up,…
  • Job 16:13 (v12) His archers surround me. He splits my kidneys apart, and does not spare. He pours out my bile on the ground.
  • Job 29:7-14 (v9) when I went out to the city gate, when I prepared my seat in the street. The young men saw me and hid themselves. The aged rose up and…
  • Psalms 31:11 (v13) Because of all my adversaries I have become utterly contemptible to my neighbors, a horror to my acquaintances. Those who saw me on the…
  • Lamentations 4:8 (v20) Their appearance is blacker than a coal. They are not known in the streets. Their skin clings to their bones. It is withered. It has become…
  • Hosea 2:6 (v8) Therefore behold, I will hedge up your way with thorns, and I will build a wall against her, that she can’t find her way.
  • Job 30:1 (vv9, 18) “But now those who are younger than I have me in derision, whose fathers I considered unworthy to put with my sheep dogs.
  • Psalms 55:12-14 (vv14, 19) For it was not an enemy who insulted me, then I could have endured it. Neither was it he who hated me who raised himself up against me,…
  • Joshua 24:7 (v8) When they cried out to Yahweh, he put darkness between you and the Egyptians, and brought the sea on them, and covered them; and your eyes…
  • Job 2:9-10 (v17) Then his wife said to him, “Do you still maintain your integrity? Renounce God, and die.” But he said to her, “You speak as one of the…
  • Job 12:14 (v10) Behold, he breaks down, and it can’t be built again. He imprisons a man, and there can be no release.
  • Job 12:17 (v9) He leads counselors away stripped. He makes judges fools.
  • Job 16:11 (v12) God delivers me to the ungodly, and casts me into the hands of the wicked.
  • Job 21:27 (v7) “Behold, I know your thoughts, the plans with which you would wrong me.
  • Job 23:3-7 (v7) Oh that I knew where I might find him! That I might come even to his seat! I would set my cause in order before him, and fill my mouth with…
  • Job 30:20 (v7) I cry to you, and you do not answer me. I stand up, and you gaze at me.
  • Job 30:26 (v8) When I looked for good, then evil came. When I waited for light, darkness came.
  • Job 31:35-36 (v7) oh that I had one to hear me! Behold, here is my signature! Let the Almighty answer me! Let the accuser write my indictment! Surely I would…
  • Job 33:19-22 (v20) He is chastened also with pain on his bed, with continual strife in his bones, so that his life abhors bread, and his soul dainty food. His…
  • Job 34:5 (v7) For Job has said, ‘I am righteous, God has taken away my right:
  • Job 40:8 (v7) Will you even annul my judgment? Will you condemn me, that you may be justified?
  • Psalms 69:20 (v13) Reproach has broken my heart, and I am full of heaviness. I looked for some to take pity, but there was none; for comforters, but I found…
  • Psalms 89:39 (v9) You have renounced the covenant of your servant. You have defiled his crown in the dust.
  • Psalms 109:4-5 (v19) In return for my love, they are my adversaries; but I am in prayer. They have rewarded me evil for good, and hatred for my love.
  • Isaiah 50:10 (v8) Who among you fears Yahweh and obeys the voice of his servant? He who walks in darkness and has no light, let him trust in Yahweh’s name,…
  • Jeremiah 13:16 (v8) Give glory to Yahweh your God, before he causes darkness, and before your feet stumble on the dark mountains, and while you look for light,…
  • Jeremiah 23:12 (v8) Therefore their way will be to them as slippery places in the darkness. They will be driven on, and fall therein; for I will bring evil on…
  • Lamentations 5:16 (v9) The crown has fallen from our head. Woe to us, for we have sinned!
  • John 8:12 (v8) Again, therefore, Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows me will not walk in the darkness, but will have…
  • 2 Corinthians 4:8-9 (v10) We are pressed on every side, yet not crushed; perplexed, yet not to despair; pursued, yet not forsaken; struck down, yet not destroyed;
  • Deuteronomy 32:22 (v11) For a fire is kindled in my anger, that burns to the lowest Sheol, devours the earth with its increase, and sets the foundations of the…
  • 2 Samuel 16:23 (v14) The counsel of Ahithophel, which he gave in those days, was as if a man inquired at the inner sanctuary of God. All the counsel of…
  • Job 1:13-19 (v10) It fell on a day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house, that there came a messenger…
  • Job 1:15-17 (v16) and the Sabeans attacked, and took them away. Yes, they have killed the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to…
  • Job 2:4-6 (v20) Satan answered Yahweh, and said, “Skin for skin. Yes, all that a man has he will give for his life. But stretch out your hand now, and…
  • Job 2:7 (v10) So Satan went out from the presence of Yahweh, and struck Job with painful sores from the sole of his foot to his head.
  • Job 6:11 (v10) What is my strength, that I should wait? What is my end, that I should be patient?
  • Job 6:14-15 (v19) “To him who is ready to faint, kindness should be shown from his friend; even to him who forsakes the fear of the Almighty. My brothers…
  • Job 6:21-23 (v13) For now you are nothing. You see a terror, and are afraid. Did I say, ‘Give to me?’ or, ‘Offer a present for me from your substance?’ or,…
  • Job 7:5 (v20) My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust. My skin closes up, and breaks out afresh.
  • Job 7:6 (v10) My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle, and are spent without hope.
  • Job 8:13-18 (v10) So are the paths of all who forget God. The hope of the godless man will perish, Whose confidence will break apart, Whose trust is a…
  • Job 9:24 (v7) The earth is given into the hand of the wicked. He covers the faces of its judges. If not he, then who is it?
  • Job 9:32 (v7) For he is not a man, as I am, that I should answer him, that we should come together in judgment.
  • Job 10:3 (v7) Is it good to you that you should oppress, that you should despise the work of your hands, and smile on the counsel of the wicked?
  • Job 10:15-17 (v7) If I am wicked, woe to me. If I am righteous, I still will not lift up my head, being filled with disgrace, and conscious of my affliction.…
  • Job 13:15-23 (v7) Behold, he will kill me. I have no hope. Nevertheless, I will maintain my ways before him. This also will be my salvation, that a godless…
  • Job 16:7 (v13) But now, God, you have surely worn me out. You have made all my company desolate.
  • Job 16:17-19 (v7) Although there is no violence in my hands, and my prayer is pure. “Earth, don’t cover my blood. Let my cry have no place to rest. Even now,…
  • Job 16:21 (v7) that he would maintain the right of a man with God, of a son of man with his neighbor!
  • Job 17:1 (v17) “My spirit is consumed. My days are extinct, and the grave is ready for me.
  • Job 17:11 (v10) My days are past. My plans are broken off, as are the thoughts of my heart.
  • Job 17:15 (v10) where then is my hope? as for my hope, who will see it?
  • Job 29:20-21 (v9) My glory is fresh in me. My bow is renewed in my hand.’ “Men listened to me, waited, and kept silence for my counsel.
  • Job 30:30 (v20) My skin grows black and peels from me. My bones are burned with heat.
  • Job 31:31-32 (v15) if the men of my tent have not said, ‘Who can find one who has not been filled with his meat?’ (the foreigner has not camped in the street,…
  • Psalms 22:2 (v7) My God, I cry in the daytime, but you don’t answer; in the night season, and am not silent.
  • Psalms 22:14-17 (v20) I am poured out like water. All my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax. It is melted within me. My strength is dried up like a…
  • Psalms 32:3-4 (v20) When I kept silence, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy on me. My strength was…
  • Psalms 38:3 (v20) There is no soundness in my flesh because of your indignation, neither is there any health in my bones because of my sin.
  • Psalms 49:16-17 (v9) Don’t be afraid when a man is made rich, when the glory of his house is increased; for when he dies he will carry nothing away. His glory…
  • Psalms 55:20 (v19) He raises his hands against his friends. He has violated his covenant.
  • Psalms 88:13-18 (v10) But to you, Yahweh, I have cried. In the morning, my prayer comes before you. Yahweh, why do you reject my soul? Why do you hide your face…
  • Psalms 89:46 (v11) How long, Yahweh? Will you hide yourself forever? Will your wrath burn like fire?
  • Psalms 90:7 (v11) For we are consumed in your anger. We are troubled in your wrath.
  • Psalms 102:3 (v20) For my days consume away like smoke. My bones are burned as a torch.
  • Psalms 102:11 (v10) My days are like a long shadow. I have withered like grass.
  • Psalms 123:3 (v15) Have mercy on us, Yahweh, have mercy on us, for we have endured much contempt.
  • Proverbs 18:24 (v14) A man of many companions may be ruined, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.
  • Isaiah 3:5 (v18) The people will be oppressed, everyone by another, and everyone by his neighbor. The child will behave himself proudly against the old man,…
  • Isaiah 10:5-6 (v12) Alas Assyrian, the rod of my anger, the staff in whose hand is my indignation! I will send him against a profane nation, and against the…
  • Isaiah 51:23 (v12) I will put it into the hand of those who afflict you, who have said to your soul, ‘Bow down, that we may walk over you;’ and you have laid…
  • Isaiah 61:6 (v9) But you will be called Yahweh’s priests. Men will call you the servants of our God. You will eat the wealth of the nations. You will boast…
  • Jeremiah 20:8 (v7) For as often as I speak, I cry out; I cry, “Violence and destruction!” because Yahweh’s word has been made a reproach to me, and a…
  • Jeremiah 20:10 (v14) For I have heard the defaming of many, “Terror on every side! Denounce, and we will denounce him!” say all my familiar friends, those who…
  • Lamentations 2:5 (v11) The Lord has become as an enemy. He has swallowed up Israel. He has swallowed up all her palaces. He has destroyed his strongholds. He has…
  • Lamentations 2:5-6 (v10) The Lord has become as an enemy. He has swallowed up Israel. He has swallowed up all her palaces. He has destroyed his strongholds. He has…
  • Lamentations 3:4 (v20) He has made my flesh and my skin old. He has broken my bones.
  • Lamentations 5:10 (v20) Our skin is black like an oven, because of the burning heat of famine.
  • Hosea 9:11 (v9) As for Ephraim, their glory will fly away like a bird. There will be no birth, no one with child, and no conception.
  • Micah 7:5-6 (v14) Don’t trust in a neighbor. Don’t put confidence in a friend. With the woman lying in your embrace, be careful of the words of your mouth!…

100 distinct cross-references across this passage (112 total citations).

Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)

Explain this passage (18 sources)

Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.

Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv8, 9, 10, 12, 15, 17, 20 Meaning, out of his afflictions.

Meaning, out of his afflictions.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.

John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv7–20 Job 19:7 Behold, I cry out of wrong, but…
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv7–20 I cry out, to wit, unto God by prayer…
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v8 Bildad had very disingenuously perverted Job's complaints by making…
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv7–20 He hath fenced up my way that I cannot…
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv7, 9, 10, 12, 13, 15, 18, 19, 20 Cry - Unto God. Wrong - That I am…
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 14, 15, 17, 19, 20 Verse 7. I cry out of wrong] I complain…
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv8, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18, 19, 20 Job 19:8-9. He hath fenced up my way, &c.…
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv7–20 Behold, I cry out of wrong - Margin, or…
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv7, 12, 17, 18, 19, 20 Hear. Jeremias makes the same complaint, Lamentations iii. 8.…
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 wrong--violence: brought on him by God.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 7. Of wrong — Behold, I cry aloud, “Violence!”…
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 17, 18, 19, 20 7. This drew from him in his helplessness cries…
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 20 (7) Behold I cry out of wrong.—The description he…
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv7–20 Behold, I cry out of wrong; i.e. "I cry…
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv14, 20 My kinsfolk have failed.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv7, 10, 13, 15, 17, 20 General Information:
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv7, 8, 9, 17, 19, 20 19:7 Help! (literally Violence!): Cp. Jer 20:8; Hab 1:2-3.…
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