Why do I put myself at risk and take my life in my own hands?
Parallel translations
- WEB Why should I take my flesh in my teeth, and put my life in my hand?
- KJV Wherefore do I take my flesh in my teeth, and put my life in mine hand?
- NKJV Why do I take my flesh in my teeth, And put my life in my hands?
- NASB “Why should I take my flesh in my teeth, And put my life in my hands?
- NLT Why should I put myself in mortal danger and take my life in my own hands?
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 describes the great risk he takes in confronting God. He stakes his very life on his appeal.
Overview
Using proverbial images of taking his flesh in his teeth and his life in his hand, Job acknowledges he is risking everything by pressing his case before God. He knows the danger yet presses on. This conveys the seriousness with which he approaches the living God, neither flippant nor despairing.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Judg 12:3When I saw that you would not save me, I risked my life and crossed over to the Ammonites, and the LORD delivered them into my hand. Why then have you come today to fight against me?”
- Ps 119:109I constantly take my life in my hands, yet I do not forget Your law.
- Eccl 4:5The fool folds his hands and consumes his own flesh.
- Job 18:4You who tear yourself in anger—should the earth be forsaken on your account, or the rocks be moved from their place?
- 1 Sam 19:5He took his life in his hands when he struck down the Philistine, and the LORD worked a great salvation for all Israel. You saw it and rejoiced, so why would you sin against innocent blood by killing David for no reason?”
- 1 Sam 28:21When the woman came to Saul and saw how distraught he was, she said to him, “Look, your maidservant has obeyed your voice. I took my life in my hands and did as you told me.
- Isa 49:26I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh; they will be drunk on their own blood, as with wine. Then all mankind will know that I, the LORD, am your Savior and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.”
- Isa 9:20They carve out what is on the right, but they are still hungry; they eat what is on the left, but they are still not satisfied. Each one devours the flesh of his own offspring.
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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 13:14 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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.