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For God maketh my heart soft, and the Almighty troubleth me:
Job 23:16 · King James Version
Parallel translations
  • WEB For God has made my heart faint. The Almighty has terrified me.
  • BSB God has made my heart faint; the Almighty has terrified me.
  • NKJV For God made my heart weak, And the Almighty terrifies me;
  • NASB “It is God who has made my heart faint, And the Almighty who has terrified me,
  • NLT God has made me sick at heart; the Almighty has terrified 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 says God Himself has melted his courage and terrified him. It matters because Job traces even his fear back to God's hand, not chance.

Overview

Job declares that God has made his heart faint and the Almighty has filled him with dread. He attributes his inner collapse directly to God, refusing to deny divine sovereignty even in his anguish. Job's faint heart contrasts with Christ, who though sorrowful unto death entrusted Himself fully to the Father.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 9

  • Ps 22:14I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels.
  • Job 27:2As God liveth, who hath taken away my judgment; and the Almighty, who hath vexed my soul;
  • Isa 6:5Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.
  • Deut 20:3And shall say unto them, Hear, O Israel, ye approach this day unto battle against your enemies: let not your hearts faint, fear not, and do not tremble, neither be ye terrified because of them;
  • Ps 88:16Thy fierce wrath goeth over me; thy terrors have cut me off.
  • Isa 57:16For I will not contend for ever, neither will I be always wroth: for the spirit should fail before me, and the souls which I have made.
  • Joel 1:15Alas for the day! for the day of the LORD is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come.
  • Ruth 1:20And she said unto them, Call me not Naomi, call me Mara: for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me.
  • Jer 51:46And lest your heart faint, and ye fear for the rumour that shall be heard in the land; a rumour shall both come one year, and after that in another year shall come a rumour, and violence in the land, ruler against ruler.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (2)

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 23:16YouTube · 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 23:16 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.