“Behold, I cry out of wrong, but I am not heard. I cry for help, but there is no justice.
Parallel translations
- KJV Behold, I cry out of wrong, but I am not heard: I cry aloud, but there is no judgment.
- BSB Though I cry out, ‘Violence!’ I get no response; though I call for help, there is no justice.
- NKJV “If I cry out concerning wrong, I am not heard. If I cry aloud, there is no justice.
- NASB ¶“Behold, I cry, ‘Violence!’ but I get no answer; I shout for help, but there is no justice.
- NLT “I cry out, ‘Help!’ but no one answers me. I protest, but there is no justice.
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 cries out against violence and injustice but feels unheard, with no justice answering him. He laments God's apparent silence.
Overview
Job's appeals for vindication seem to vanish unanswered, deepening his sense of abandonment. His complaint that there is 'no justice' voices the believer's struggle when God's righteous response seems delayed. Scripture assures that God hears the cry of the afflicted and will finally set all things right, a justice secured and displayed in Christ (Luke 18:7-8).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 17
- Lam 3:8Yes, when I cry, and call for help, he shuts out my prayer.
- Hab 1:2–3Yahweh, how long will I cry, and you will not hear? I cry out to you “Violence!” and will you not save?
- Job 21:27“Behold, I know your thoughts, the devices with which you would wrong me.
- Job 34:5For Job has said, ‘I am righteous, God has taken away my right:
- Job 30:20I cry to you, and you do not answer me. I stand up, and you gaze at me.
- Job 23:3–7Oh that I knew where I might find him! That I might come even to his seat!
- Job 31:35–36oh that I had one to hear me! Behold, here is my signature! Let the Almighty answer me! Let the accuser write my indictment!
- Job 40:8Will you even annul my judgment? Will you condemn me, that you may be justified?
- Job 10:15–17If I am wicked, woe to me. If I am righteous, I still shall not lift up my head, being filled with disgrace, and conscious of my affliction.
- Jer 20:8For as often as I speak, I cry out; I cry, Violence and destruction! because Yahweh’s word has been made a reproach to me, and a derision, all day.
- Job 16:21that he would maintain the right of a man with God, of a son of man with his neighbor!
- Job 16:17–19Although there is no violence in my hands, and my prayer is pure.
- Job 9:24The earth is given into the hand of the wicked. He covers the faces of its judges. If not he, then who is it?
- Job 9:32For he is not a man, as I am, that I should answer him, that we should come together in judgment.
- Job 13:15–23Behold, he will kill me. I have no hope. Nevertheless, I will maintain my ways before him.
- Job 10:3Is it good to you that you should oppress, that you should despise the work of your hands, and smile on the counsel of the wicked?
- Ps 22:2My God, I cry in the daytime, but you don’t answer; in the night season, and am not silent.
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 19:7 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.