His archers surround me. He pierces my kidneys without mercy and spills my gall on the ground.
Parallel translations
- WEB His archers surround me. He splits my kidneys apart, and does not spare. He pours out my gall on the ground.
- KJV His archers compass me round about, he cleaveth my reins asunder, and doth not spare; he poureth out my gall upon the ground.
- NKJV His archers surround me. He pierces my heart and does not pity; He pours out my gall on the ground.
- NASB “His arrows surround me. He splits my kidneys open without mercy; He pours out my bile on the ground.
- NLT and now his archers surround me. His arrows pierce me without mercy. The ground is wet with my blood.
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 pictures God's archers surrounding him, piercing him without mercy and spilling his life out. His suffering feels like a relentless, fatal siege.
Overview
Job continues the battle imagery, depicting himself pierced through, his vital organs split, his gall poured out. The unsparing assault expresses how total his affliction feels. Such anguished language voices the extremity of his pain, yet it is spoken to God rather than against him, keeping Job within the bounds of a faith that suffers but does not curse its Maker.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Job 20:25It is drawn out of his back, the gleaming point from his liver. Terrors come over him.
- Job 6:4For the arrows of the Almighty have pierced me; my spirit drinks in their poison; the terrors of God are arrayed against me.
- Lam 2:11My eyes fail from weeping; I am churning within. My heart is poured out in grief over the destruction of the daughter of my people, because children and infants faint in the streets of the city.
- Ps 7:12–13If one does not repent, God will sharpen His sword; He has bent and strung His bow.
- Job 19:27I will see Him for myself; my eyes will behold Him, and not as a stranger. How my heart yearns within me!
- Deut 29:20The LORD will never be willing to forgive him. Instead, His anger and jealousy will burn against that man, and every curse written in this book will fall upon him. The LORD will blot out his name from under heaven
- Job 6:10It still brings me comfort, and joy through unrelenting pain, that I have not denied the words of the Holy One.
- Gen 49:23The archers attacked him with bitterness; they aimed at him in hostility.
- Rom 8:32He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also, along with Him, freely give us all things?
- Ezek 5:11Therefore as surely as I live, declares the Lord GOD, because you have defiled My sanctuary with all your detestable idols and abominations, I Myself will withdraw My favor; I will not look upon you with pity, nor will I spare you.
- Lam 3:13He pierced my kidneys with His arrows.
- 2 Pet 2:5if He did not spare the ancient world when He brought the flood on its ungodly people, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, among the eight;
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 16:13 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.