He hath destroyed me on every side, and I am gone: and mine hope hath he removed like a tree.
Parallel translations
- WEB He has broken me down on every side, and I am gone. My hope he has plucked up like a tree.
- BSB He tears me down on every side until I am gone; He uproots my hope like a tree.
- NKJV He breaks me down on every side, And I am gone; My hope He has uprooted like a tree.
- NASB “He breaks me down on every side, and I am gone; And He has uprooted my hope like a tree.
- NLT He has demolished me on every side, and I am finished. He has uprooted my hope like a fallen tree.
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 says God has broken him down on every side and uprooted his hope like a tree. He feels demolished and without future.
Overview
Job describes himself as a building torn down and a tree pulled up by the roots, his hope destroyed. The double image conveys complete ruin of both his life and his expectations. Yet even uprooted hope is not the end of the story for the believer, for in Christ there springs up a living hope that cannot be destroyed (1 Peter 1:3).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Job 24:20The womb shall forget him; the worm shall feed sweetly on him; he shall be no more remembered; and wickedness shall be broken as a tree.
- Ps 37:35–36I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a green bay tree.
- Job 12:14Behold, he breaketh down, and it cannot be built again: he shutteth up a man, and there can be no opening.
- 2 Cor 4:8–9We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;
- Job 17:15And where is now my hope? as for my hope, who shall see it?
- Job 8:13–18So are the paths of all that forget God; and the hypocrite’s hope shall perish:
- Job 17:11My days are past, my purposes are broken off, even the thoughts of my heart.
- Lam 2:5–6The LORD was as an enemy: he hath swallowed up Israel, he hath swallowed up all her palaces: he hath destroyed his strong holds, and hath increased in the daughter of Judah mourning and lamentation.
- Ps 102:11My days are like a shadow that declineth; and I am withered like grass.
- Job 6:11What is my strength, that I should hope? and what is mine end, that I should prolong my life?
- Job 1:13–19And there was a day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother’s house:
- Ps 88:13–18But unto thee have I cried, O LORD; and in the morning shall my prayer prevent thee.
- Job 2:7So went Satan forth from the presence of the LORD, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown.
- Job 7:6My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle, and are spent without hope.
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 19:10 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.