Remove Your hand from me, And may the dread of You not terrify me.
Parallel translations
- WEB withdraw your hand far from me; and don’t let your terror make me afraid.
- KJV Withdraw thine hand far from me: and let not thy dread make me afraid.
- BSB Withdraw Your hand from me, and do not let Your terror frighten me.
- NKJV Withdraw Your hand far from me, And let not the dread of You make me afraid.
- NLT Remove your heavy hand from me, and don’t terrify me with your awesome presence.
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 asks God to withdraw His afflicting hand and remove his terror. He needs space to speak without being crushed.
Overview
Job names his two requests: that God remove His heavy hand and not overwhelm him with dread. Under such weight, honest dialogue is impossible. Job is not demanding escape from God but asking for the conditions in which he can rightly answer and be answered.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Job 9:34Let him take his rod away from me. Let his terror not make me afraid;
- Job 33:7Behold, my terror shall not make you afraid, neither shall my pressure be heavy on you.
- Ps 39:10Remove your scourge away from me. I am overcome by the blow of your hand.
- Job 22:15–17Will you keep the old way, which wicked men have trodden,
- Job 10:20Aren’t my days few? Cease then. Leave me alone, that I may find a little comfort,
- Job 13:11Shall not his majesty make you afraid, And his dread fall on you?
- Ps 119:120My flesh trembles for fear of you. I am afraid of your judgments. AYIN
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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 13:21 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
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.