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Job: My Redeemer Lives
In Job 19:1–29, Job answers people who have spoken harshly to him. He describes deep suffering, loneliness and blame, then states his confidence that his Redeemer lives and that there is judgment.
Understanding the passage
Listening in context
This passage is part of wisdom and dialogue. The text presents Job’s spoken reply, moving from protest against his friends’ words, to a description of how afflicted and isolated he feels, and then to a strong declaration about his living Redeemer and future judgment. It should be read as Job’s speech in this passage.
Job 19:1–29Main takeaway
Job 19 shows Job speaking honestly about pain and rejection while holding to the conviction that his Redeemer lives and that judgment is real.
Look closely at the words
01Job protests his friends’ attacksJob begins by asking how long his friends will torment and crush him with words. He says they have repeatedly reproached and attacked him.
Explanation
Job begins by asking how long his friends will torment and crush him with words. He says they have repeatedly reproached and attacked him. Even if he has erred, he says that does not justify their proud use of his disgrace against him. The focus here is on their harsh treatment in speech.
02Job describes suffering he believes has closed around himJob says God has subverted him, surrounded him, not answered his cry, and blocked his path with darkness.
Explanation
Job says God has subverted him, surrounded him, not answered his cry, and blocked his path with darkness. He describes lost honour, uprooted hope, and being counted as an adversary. The military images of troops, a siege ramp and encampment show how trapped and overwhelmed he feels.
03Job says he has been cut off from people close to himThe speech then turns to isolation. Brothers, acquaintances, relatives, friends, people in his house, a servant, his wife, his family, children and loved ones are all described as distant, forgetful, hostile or disgusted.
Explanation
The speech then turns to isolation. Brothers, acquaintances, relatives, friends, people in his house, a servant, his wife, his family, children and loved ones are all described as distant, forgetful, hostile or disgusted. Job also describes his physical weakness in striking terms, showing complete misery and abandonment.
04Job asks for pity and declares his living RedeemerJob asks his friends for pity because, as he says, the hand of God has touched him. He wishes his words were permanently recorded.
Explanation
Job asks his friends for pity because, as he says, the hand of God has touched him. He wishes his words were permanently recorded. Then comes the passage’s central confession: Job knows that his Redeemer lives, will stand in the end, and that Job himself will see God. This hope is deeply personal and intense.
05Job ends with a warning about judgmentAt the end, Job warns his friends about continuing persecution. If they keep pressing against him, they should fear the sword, because wrath brings punishment.
Explanation
At the end, Job warns his friends about continuing persecution. If they keep pressing against him, they should fear the sword, because wrath brings punishment. His conclusion is that there is judgment. The passage therefore closes not only with hope, but also with a serious moral warning to those who accuse wrongly.
Questions to explore
01What do Job’s first words show about how deeply his friends’ speech has affected him?
02How does Job describe both his suffering and his isolation in this speech?
Read the Bible passage
World English Bible ClassicScripture quotation · Public domain
Job 19:1–29
1Then Job answered,
2“How long will you torment me, and crush me with words?
3You have reproached me ten times. You aren’t ashamed that you attack me.
4If it is true that I have erred, my error remains with myself.
5If indeed you will magnify yourselves against me, and plead against me my reproach,
6know now that God has subverted me, and has surrounded me with his net.
7“Behold, I cry out of wrong, but I am not heard. I cry for help, but there is no justice.
8He has walled up my way so that I can’t pass, and has set darkness in my paths.
9He has stripped me of my glory, and taken the crown from my head.
10He has broken me down on every side, and I am gone. He has plucked my hope up like a tree.
11He has also kindled his wrath against me. He counts me among his adversaries.
12His troops come on together, build a siege ramp against me, and encamp around my tent.
13“He has put my brothers far from me. My acquaintances are wholly estranged from me.
14My relatives have gone away. My familiar friends have forgotten me.
15Those who dwell in my house and my maids consider me a stranger. I am an alien in their sight.
16I call to my servant, and he gives me no answer. I beg him with my mouth.
17My breath is offensive to my wife. I am loathsome to the children of my own mother.
18Even young children despise me. If I arise, they speak against me.
19All my familiar friends abhor me. They whom I loved have turned against me.
20My bones stick to my skin and to my flesh. I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.
21“Have pity on me. Have pity on me, you my friends, for the hand of God has touched me.
22Why do you persecute me as God, and are not satisfied with my flesh?
23“Oh that my words were now written! Oh that they were inscribed in a book!
24That with an iron pen and lead they were engraved in the rock forever!
25But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives. In the end, he will stand upon the earth.
26After my skin is destroyed, then I will see God in my flesh,
27whom I, even I, will see on my side. My eyes will see, and not as a stranger. “My heart is consumed within me.
28If you say, ‘How we will persecute him!’ because the root of the matter is found in me,
29be afraid of the sword, for wrath brings the punishments of the sword, that you may know there is a judgment.”