His archers compass me round about, he cleaveth my reins asunder, and doth not spare; he poureth out my gall upon 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.
- BSB His archers surround me. He pierces my kidneys without mercy and spills my gall on 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, and cometh out of the body; yea, the glittering sword cometh out of his gall: terrors are upon him.
- Job 6:4For the arrows of the Almighty are within me, the poison whereof drinketh up my spirit: the terrors of God do set themselves in array against me.
- Lam 2:11Mine eyes do fail with tears, my bowels are troubled, my liver is poured upon the earth, for the destruction of the daughter of my people; because the children and the sucklings swoon in the streets of the city.
- Ps 7:12–13If he turn not, he will whet his sword; he hath bent his bow, and made it ready.
- Job 19:27Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me.
- Deut 29:20The LORD will not spare him, but then the anger of the LORD and his jealousy shall smoke against that man, and all the curses that are written in this book shall lie upon him, and the LORD shall blot out his name from under heaven.
- Job 6:10Then should I yet have comfort; yea, I would harden myself in sorrow: let him not spare; for I have not concealed the words of the Holy One.
- Gen 49:23The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and hated him:
- Rom 8:32He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?
- Ezek 5:11Wherefore, as I live, saith the Lord GOD; Surely, because thou hast defiled my sanctuary with all thy detestable things, and with all thine abominations, therefore will I also diminish thee; neither shall mine eye spare, neither will I have any pity.
- Lam 3:13He hath caused the arrows of his quiver to enter into my reins.
- 2 Pet 2:5And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;
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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.