Behold, I go forward, but he is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive him:
Parallel translations
- WEB “If I go east, he is not there; if west, I can’t find him;
- BSB If I go east, He is not there, and if I go west, I cannot find Him.
- NKJV “Look,I go forward, but He is not there, And backward, but I cannot perceive Him;
- NASB ¶“Behold, I go forward but He is not there, And backward, but I cannot perceive Him;
- NLT I go east, but he is not there. I go west, but I cannot find him.
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 laments that he searches east and west but cannot find God anywhere. God seems hidden from him despite his earnest seeking.
Overview
Job describes the agony of God's apparent absence; he looks in every direction but cannot perceive Him. This is the painful experience of the hidden God (cf. Ps 10:1; Isa 45:15). Yet Job keeps seeking, modeling persevering faith. The believer's assurance, by contrast, is that in Christ God has drawn near and will never forsake His own (Heb 13:5).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Ps 10:1Why standest thou afar off, O LORD? why hidest thou thyself in times of trouble?
- Job 9:11Lo, he goeth by me, and I see him not: he passeth on also, but I perceive him not.
- Job 35:14Although thou sayest thou shalt not see him, yet judgment is before him; therefore trust thou in him.
- 1 Tim 6:16Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen.
- Isa 45:15Verily thou art a God that hidest thyself, O God of Israel, the Saviour.
- Ps 13:1–3How long wilt thou forget me, O LORD? for ever? how long wilt thou hide thy face from me?
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
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The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
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 23:8 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.