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Even young children despise me; I arise, and they speak against me.
Job 19:18 · New King James Version
Parallel translations
  • WEB Even young children despise me. If I arise, they speak against me.
  • KJV Yea, young children despised me; I arose, and they spake against me.
  • BSB Even little boys scorn me; when I appear, they deride me.
  • NASB “Even young children despise me; I stand up and they speak against me.
  • NLT Even young children despise me. When I stand to speak, they turn their backs on me.

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

Even young children despise Job and mock him when he stands up. He has lost the basic respect once given to him.

Overview

Job, formerly honored by elders and youth alike, is now scorned by mere children, the lowest rung of social standing. Their contempt marks how completely his reputation has been overturned. The picture of the righteous mocked by the young anticipates the abuse heaped on Christ, who endured scorn to redeem the despised.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 4

  • 2 Kgs 2:23He went up from there to Bethel. As he was going up by the way, some youths came out of the city and mocked him, and said to him, “Go up, you baldy! Go up, you baldy!”
  • Job 30:12On my right hand rise the rabble. They thrust aside my feet, They cast up against me their ways of destruction.
  • Job 30:1“But now those who are younger than I have me in derision, whose fathers I would have disdained to put with my sheep dogs.
  • Isa 3:5The people will be oppressed, everyone by another, and everyone by his neighbor. The child will behave himself proudly against the old man, and the base against the honorable.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (3)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Job videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Job 19:18YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on JobMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    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 19:18 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.