Why should I put myself in mortal danger 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?
- BSB Why do I put myself at risk and take my life in my own hands?
- 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?
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 didn’t save me, I put my life in my hand, and passed over against the children of Ammon, and Yahweh delivered them into my hand. Why then have you come up to me today, to fight against me?”
- Ps 119:109My soul is continually in my hand, yet I won’t forget your law.
- Eccl 4:5The fool folds his hands together and ruins himself.
- Job 18:4You who tear yourself in your anger, shall the earth be forsaken for you? Or shall the rock be removed out of its place?
- 1 Sam 19:5for he put his life in his hand, and struck the Philistine, and Yahweh worked a great victory for all Israel. You saw it, and rejoiced. Why then will you sin against innocent blood, to kill David without a cause?”
- 1 Sam 28:21The woman came to Saul, and saw that he was very troubled, and said to him, “Behold, your servant has listened to your voice, and I have put my life in my hand, and have listened to your words which you spoke to me.
- Isa 49:26I will feed those who oppress you with their own flesh; and they will be drunk on their own blood, as with sweet wine. Then all flesh shall know that I, Yahweh, am your Savior, and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.”
- Isa 9:20One will devour on the right hand, and be hungry; and he will eat on the left hand, and they will not be satisfied. Everyone will eat the flesh of his own arm:
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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.