Behold, he will kill me. I have no hope. Nevertheless, I will maintain my ways before him.
Parallel translations
- KJV Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him.
- BSB Though He slay me, I will hope in Him. I will still defend my ways to His face.
- NKJV Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him. Even so, I will defend my own ways before Him.
- NASB “Though He slay me, I will hope in Him. Nevertheless I will argue my ways before Him.
- NLT God might kill me, but I have no other hope. I am going to argue my case with him.
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 will trust God and defend his integrity even if God slays him. It is a high point of faith amid anguish.
Overview
Job's famous words, 'Behold, he will kill me; I have no hope. Nevertheless, I will maintain my ways before him,' express clinging trust even in the face of death. Translators differ, with some rendering 'though he slay me, yet will I trust in him,' but either way Job resolves to hold fast his integrity before God. His persevering faith points to the steadfast trust believers are called to in Christ even through suffering.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 17
- Ps 23:4Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
- Job 23:10But he knows the way that I take. When he has tried me, I shall come out like gold.
- Job 19:25–28But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives. In the end, he will stand upon the earth.
- Rom 8:38–39For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,
- 1 Jn 3:20because if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things.
- Job 27:5Far be it from me that I should justify you. Until I die I will not put away my integrity from me.
- Job 23:4–7I would set my cause in order before him, and fill my mouth with arguments.
- Prov 14:32The wicked is brought down in his calamity, but in death, the righteous has a refuge.
- Job 40:8Will you even annul my judgment? Will you condemn me, that you may be justified?
- Job 13:18See now, I have set my cause in order. I know that I am righteous.
- Job 40:2“Shall he who argues contend with the Almighty? He who argues with God, let him answer it.”
- Job 16:21that he would maintain the right of a man with God, of a son of man with his neighbor!
- Job 7:6My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle, and are spent without hope.
- Job 16:17Although there is no violence in my hands, and my prayer is pure.
- Job 40:4–5“Behold, I am of small account. What shall I answer you? I lay my hand on my mouth.
- Job 10:7Although you know that I am not wicked, there is no one who can deliver out of your hand.
- Job 31:31–37if the men of my tent have not said, ‘Who can find one who has not been filled with his meat?’
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 13:15 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.