His archers surround me. He pierces my heart and does not pity; He pours out 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.
- BSB His archers surround me. He pierces my kidneys without mercy and spills 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 20:25He draws it out, and it comes out of his body. Yes, the glittering point comes out of his liver. Terrors are on him.
- Job 6:4For the arrows of the Almighty are within me. My spirit drinks up their poison. The terrors of God set themselves in array against me.
- Lam 2:11My eyes fail with tears, my heart is troubled; My liver is poured on the earth, because of the destruction of the daughter of my people, Because the young children and the infants swoon in the streets of the city.
- Ps 7:12–13If a man doesn’t relent, he will sharpen his sword; he has bent and strung his bow.
- Job 19:27Whom I, even I, shall see on my side. My eyes shall see, and not as a stranger. “My heart is consumed within me.
- Deut 29:20Yahweh will not pardon him, but then Yahweh’s anger and his jealousy will smoke against that man, and all the curse that is written in this book will fall on him, and Yahweh will blot out his name from under the sky.
- Job 6:10Be it still my consolation, yes, let me exult in pain that doesn’t spare, that I have not denied the words of the Holy One.
- Gen 49:23The archers have severely grieved him, shot at him, and persecute him:
- Rom 8:32He who didn’t spare his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how would he not also with him freely give us all things?
- Ezek 5:11Therefore as I live,’ says the Lord Yahweh, ‘surely, because you have defiled my sanctuary with all your detestable things, and with all your abominations, therefore I will also diminish you. My eye won’t spare, and I will have no pity.
- Lam 3:13He has caused the shafts of his quiver to enter into my kidneys.
- 2 Pet 2:5and didn’t spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah with seven others, a preacher of righteousness, when he brought a flood on the world of the ungodly;
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 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.