I was at ease, but he hath broken me asunder: he hath also taken me by my neck, and shaken me to pieces, and set me up for his mark.
Parallel translations
- WEB I was at ease, and he broke me apart. Yes, he has taken me by the neck, and dashed me to pieces. He has also set me up for his target.
- BSB I was at ease, but He shattered me; He seized me by the neck and crushed me. He has set me up as His target;
- NKJV I was at ease, but He has shattered me; He also has taken me by my neck, and shaken me to pieces; He has set me up for His target,
- NASB “I was at ease, but He shattered me, And He has grasped me by my neck and shaken me to pieces; He has also set me up as His target.
- NLT “I was living quietly until he shattered me. He took me by the neck and broke me in pieces. Then he set me up as his target,
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 recalls his former ease shattered as God seized and crushed him, setting him up as a target. His peace was violently undone.
Overview
Job describes how God broke apart his settled life, dashing him to pieces and making him a mark for attack. The imagery conveys sudden, overwhelming calamity from God's hand. While Job cannot see the reason, the reader knows his trial serves a greater purpose, reminding us that God's people are sometimes broken not in wrath but for ends beyond their sight.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- Job 7:20I have sinned; what shall I do unto thee, O thou preserver of men? why hast thou set me as a mark against thee, so that I am a burden to myself?
- Lam 3:11–12He hath turned aside my ways, and pulled me in pieces: he hath made me desolate.
- Lam 3:4My flesh and my skin hath he made old; he hath broken my bones.
- Job 9:17For he breaketh me with a tempest, and multiplieth my wounds without cause.
- Ps 44:19Though thou hast sore broken us in the place of dragons, and covered us with the shadow of death.
- Job 29:18–19Then I said, I shall die in my nest, and I shall multiply my days as the sand.
- Matt 21:44And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.
- Ezek 29:7When they took hold of thee by thy hand, thou didst break, and rend all their shoulder: and when they leaned upon thee, thou brakest, and madest all their loins to be at a stand.
- Job 4:10The roaring of the lion, and the voice of the fierce lion, and the teeth of the young lions, are broken.
- Job 29:3When his candle shined upon my head, and when by his light I walked through darkness;
- Rom 16:4Who have for my life laid down their own necks: unto whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles.
- Job 7:12Am I a sea, or a whale, that thou settest a watch over me?
- Job 15:26He runneth upon him, even on his neck, upon the thick bosses of his bucklers:
- Job 1:2–3And there were born unto him seven sons and three daughters.
- Job 3:26I was not in safety, neither had I rest, neither was I quiet; yet trouble came.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 16:12 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.