Job 23

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¹Then Job answered and said, ²Even to day is my complaint bitter: my stroke is heavier than my groaning. ✦ ³Oh that I knew where I might find him! that I might come even to his seat! ✦ ⁴I would order my cause before him, and fill my mouth with arguments. ✦ ⁵I would know the words which he would answer me, and understand what he would say unto me. ✦ ⁶Will he plead against me with his great power? No; but he would put strength in me. ✦ ⁷There the righteous might dispute with him; so should I be delivered for ever from my judge. ✦ ⁸Behold, I go forward, but he is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive him: ✦ ⁹On the left hand, where he doth work, but I cannot behold him: he hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him: ✦ ¹⁰But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold. ✦ ¹¹My foot hath held his steps, his way have I kept, and not declined. ✦ ¹²Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food. ✦ ¹³But he is in one mind, and who can turn him? and what his soul desireth, even that he doeth. ✦ ¹⁴For he performeth the thing that is appointed for me: and many such things are with him. ✦ ¹⁵Therefore am I troubled at his presence: when I consider, I am afraid of him. ✦ ¹⁶For God maketh my heart soft, and the Almighty troubleth me: ✦ ¹⁷Because I was not cut off before the darkness, neither hath he covered the darkness from my face. ✦

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Where this chapter connects

Job 9 ·6 Job 13 ·5 Ps 119 ·4 Job 6 ·3 Ps 77 ·3 Jas 1 ·3 Job 10 ·3 Job 42 ·2

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 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.

Resources, by level

Lay

★ Start hereAudioThrough the WordThrough the Word · ~10 min/chapter · Free · evangelical
A clear ~10-minute audio teaching for every one of the Bible's 1,189 chapters — the most systematic free way to study chapter by chapter.

Pastoral

SermonChuck Smith — C2000 SeriesChuck Smith · Free · evangelical
Free verse-by-verse audio through the entire Bible from the founder of Calvary Chapel.

Commentaries & study tools

VideoBibleProject — Job videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
VideoWatch teaching on Job 23YouTube · Lay · Free
Sermons and chapter teaching from across YouTube.
CommentaryEnduring Word — Job 23David Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical
Readable, verse-by-verse exposition of the whole chapter.
CommentaryMatthew Henry on JobMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
ReferenceBlue Letter Bible — Job 23Blue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free
Interlinear, lexicon, and study tools across the chapter.

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