“Skin for skin!” Satan replied. “A man will give up all he owns in exchange for his life.
Parallel translations
- WEB Satan answered Yahweh, and said, “Skin for skin. Yes, all that a man has he will give for his life.
- KJV And Satan answered the LORD, and said, Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life.
- NKJV So Satan answered the Lord and said, “Skin for skin! Yes, all that a man has he will give for his life.
- NASB Satan answered the Lord and said, “Skin for skin! Yes, all that a man has, he will give for his life.
- NLT Satan replied to the Lord, “Skin for skin! A man will give up everything he has to save his life.
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
Satan retorts that a man will give anything to save his own life. He shifts the accusation to Job's bodily survival.
Overview
The proverb "skin for skin" argues that Job endured loss only because his own person was spared. Satan claims self-preservation, not true devotion, explains Job's faithfulness. The renewed accusation again targets the genuineness of faith, the question Christ would answer by laying down His very life.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Phil 3:8–10More than that, I count all things as loss compared to the surpassing excellence of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ
- Matt 6:25Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?
- Matt 16:26What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?
- Jer 41:8But ten of the men among them said to Ishmael, “Do not kill us, for we have hidden treasure in the field—wheat, barley, oil, and honey!” So he refrained from killing them with the others.
- Esth 7:3–4Queen Esther replied, “If I have found favor in your sight, O king, and if it pleases the king, grant me my life as my petition, and the lives of my people as my request.
- Acts 27:18–19We were tossed so violently that the next day the men began to jettison the cargo.
- Isa 2:20–21In that day men will cast away to the moles and bats their idols of silver and gold—the idols they made to worship.
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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 2:4 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.