“Have mercy on me, my friends, have mercy, for the hand of God has struck me.
Parallel translations
- WEB “Have pity on me, have pity on me, you my friends; for the hand of God has touched me.
- KJV Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O ye my friends; for the hand of God hath touched me.
- BSB Have pity on me, my friends, have pity, for the hand of God has struck me.
- NKJV “Have pity on me, have pity on me, O you my friends, For the hand of God has struck me!
- NASB “Pity me, pity me, you friends of mine, For the hand of God has struck 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
Job pleads twice for pity from his friends, since the hand of God has struck him. He longs for compassion, not condemnation.
Overview
In a heartfelt cry, Job begs his friends for mercy, appealing to the very fact of God's heavy hand upon him as grounds for sympathy. Where they see proof of guilt, he asks them to see a man in need of compassion. The verse models how the afflicted rightly seek and how the godly should give tender mercy rather than judgment (Romans 12:15).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Job 1:11But stretch out your hand now, and touch all that he has, and he will renounce you to your face.”
- Ps 38:2For your arrows have pierced me, your hand presses hard on me.
- Job 2:10But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. What? Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?” In all this Job didn’t sin with his lips.
- Heb 13:3Remember those who are in bonds, as bound with them; and those who are ill-treated, since you are also in the body.
- Job 2:5But stretch out your hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will renounce you to your face.”
- 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.
- Job 6:14“To him who is ready to faint, kindness should be shown from his friend; even to him who forsakes the fear of the Almighty.
- Rom 12:15Rejoice with those who rejoice. Weep with those who weep.
- 1 Cor 12:26When one member suffers, all the members suffer with it. Or when one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.
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 19:21 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.