He teareth himself in his anger: shall the earth be forsaken for thee? and shall the rock be removed out of his place?
Parallel translations
- WEB You who tear yourself in your anger, shall the earth be forsaken for you? Or shall the rock be removed out of its place?
- BSB You who tear yourself in anger—should the earth be forsaken on your account, or the rocks be moved from their place?
- NKJV You who tear yourself in anger, Shall the earth be forsaken for you? Or shall the rock be removed from its place?
- NASB “You who tear yourself in your anger— Should the earth be abandoned for your sake, Or the rock moved from its place?
- NLT You may tear out your hair in anger, but will that destroy the earth? Will it make the rocks tremble?
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
Bildad accuses Job of tearing himself in anger and asks if the world should bend to his complaint. He charges Job with self-destructive pride.
Overview
Bildad pictures Job as raging against himself and implies that Job's protest would require the moral order of the universe to be overturned for his sake. He defends the fixed law of retribution as unshakable as the rocks. Yet the book reveals that God's ways are larger than such rigid formulas, and that the sufferer's anguish is not mere self-willed rebellion.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Job 14:18And surely the mountain falling cometh to nought, and the rock is removed out of his place.
- Job 16:9He teareth me in his wrath, who hateth me: he gnasheth upon me with his teeth; mine enemy sharpeneth his eyes upon me.
- Job 5:2For wrath killeth the foolish man, and envy slayeth the silly one.
- Job 13:14Wherefore do I take my flesh in my teeth, and put my life in mine hand?
- Job 40:8Wilt thou also disannul my judgment? wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous?
- Matt 24:35Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.
- Isa 54:10For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the LORD that hath mercy on thee.
- Mark 9:18And wheresoever he taketh him, he teareth him: and he foameth, and gnasheth with his teeth, and pineth away: and I spake to thy disciples that they should cast him out; and they could not.
- Ezek 9:9Then said he unto me, The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is exceeding great, and the land is full of blood, and the city full of perverseness: for they say, The LORD hath forsaken the earth, and the LORD seeth not.
- Luke 9:39And, lo, a spirit taketh him, and he suddenly crieth out; and it teareth him that he foameth again, and bruising him hardly departeth from him.
- Jonah 4:9And God said to Jonah, Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd? And he said, I do well to be angry, even unto death.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Commentaries & study tools
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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 18:4 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.