He said, “I came naked from my mother’s womb, and I will be naked when I leave. The Lord gave me what I had, and the Lord has taken it away. Praise the name of the Lord!”
Parallel translations
- WEB He said, “Naked I came out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return there. Yahweh gave, and Yahweh has taken away. Blessed be Yahweh’s name.”
- KJV And said, Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.
- BSB saying: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the LORD.”
- NKJV And he said: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, And naked shall I return there. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; Blessed be the name of the Lord.”
- NASB He said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, And naked I shall return there. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Job confesses that he came naked and will leave naked, blessing the LORD who gives and takes away. He worships God amid total loss.
Overview
Job acknowledges that all he had was a gift, never a possession he owned by right, and he refuses to charge God. His words "Blessed be Yahweh's name" express faith that clings to God Himself rather than His gifts, directly answering Satan's accusation. This worship in loss points to Christ, who entrusted Himself to the Father even unto death.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 28
- Eccl 5:15As he came out of his mother’s womb, naked shall he go again as he came, and shall take nothing for his labor, which he may carry away in his hand.
- 1 Tim 6:7For we brought nothing into the world, and we certainly can’t carry anything out.
- 1 Th 5:18In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus toward you.
- Jas 1:17Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom can be no variation, nor turning shadow.
- Job 2:10But 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.
- Ps 49:17for when he dies he will carry nothing away. His glory won’t descend after him.
- Eph 5:20giving thanks always concerning all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to God, even the Father;
- Eccl 12:7and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.
- 1 Sam 2:7Yahweh makes poor, and makes rich. He brings low, he also lifts up.
- Isa 45:7I form the light, and create darkness. I make peace, and create calamity. I am Yahweh, who does all these things.
- Gen 3:19By the sweat of your face will you eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken. For you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
- Lam 3:38Doesn’t evil and good come out of the mouth of the Most High?
- Matt 20:15Isn’t it lawful for me to do what I want to with what I own? Or is your eye evil, because I am good?’
- Ps 39:9I was mute. I didn’t open my mouth, because you did it.
- Isa 42:24Who gave Jacob as plunder, and Israel to the robbers? Didn’t Yahweh, he against whom we have sinned? For they would not walk in his ways, and they disobeyed his law.
- Isa 24:15Therefore glorify Yahweh in the east, even the name of Yahweh, the God of Israel, in the islands of the sea!
- Acts 4:28to do whatever your hand and your council foreordained to happen.
- Gen 45:5Now don’t be grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life.
- Ps 34:1By David; when he pretended to be insane before Abimelech, who drove him away, and he departed. I will bless Yahweh at all times. His praise will always be in my mouth.
- 1 Sam 3:18Samuel told him every bit, and hid nothing from him. He said, “It is Yahweh. Let him do what seems good to him.”
- 2 Sam 16:12It may be that Yahweh will look on the wrong done to me, and that Yahweh will repay me good for the cursing of me today.”
- Amos 3:6Does the trumpet alarm sound in a city, without the people being afraid? Does evil happen to a city, and Yahweh hasn’t done it?
- Job 1:11But stretch out your hand now, and touch all that he has, and he will renounce you to your face.”
- Gen 30:2Jacob’s anger burned against Rachel, and he said, “Am I in God’s place, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?”
- 2 Kgs 20:19Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “Yahweh’s word which you have spoken is good.” He said moreover, “Isn’t it so, if peace and truth will be in my days?”
- 1 Kgs 12:15So the king didn’t listen to the people; for it was a thing brought about from Yahweh, that he might establish his word, which Yahweh spoke by Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam the son of Nebat.
- Eccl 5:19Every man also to whom God has given riches and wealth, and has given him power to eat of it, and to take his portion, and to rejoice in his labor — this is the gift of God.
- Ps 89:38–52But you have rejected and spurned. You have been angry with your anointed.
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Christ at the center
Job's cry for a mediator who can lay his hand on both God and man, and his confidence that 'my Redeemer lives' and will stand on the earth, reaches forward to Jesus the living Redeemer.
How Job 1:21 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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