And I brake the jaws of the wicked, and plucked the spoil out of his teeth.
Parallel translations
- WEB I broke the jaws of the unrighteous, and plucked the prey out of his teeth.
- BSB I shattered the fangs of the unjust and snatched the prey from his teeth.
- NKJV I broke the fangs of the wicked, And plucked the victim from his teeth.
- NASB “I broke the jaws of the wicked And rescued the prey from his teeth.
- NLT I broke the jaws of godless oppressors and plucked their victims from their teeth.
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 broke the power of the wicked and rescued their victims from their grip.
Overview
Using the image of breaking an oppressor's jaws and snatching prey from his teeth, Job describes his active defense of the vulnerable against the unjust. He did not merely pity the oppressed but intervened to deliver them. This pictures God as the rescuer of the helpless and points to Christ, who delivers His people from the jaws of the enemy (Colossians 1:13).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Ps 3:7Arise, O LORD; save me, O my God: for thou hast smitten all mine enemies upon the cheek bone; thou hast broken the teeth of the ungodly.
- Prov 30:14There is a generation, whose teeth are as swords, and their jaw teeth as knives, to devour the poor from off the earth, and the needy from among men.
- 1 Sam 17:35And I went out after him, and smote him, and delivered it out of his mouth: and when he arose against me, I caught him by his beard, and smote him, and slew him.
- Ps 58:8As a snail which melteth, let every one of them pass away: like the untimely birth of a woman, that they may not see the sun.
- Ps 124:6Blessed be the LORD, who hath not given us as a prey to their teeth.
- Ps 124:3Then they had swallowed us up quick, when their wrath was kindled against us:
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
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 29:17 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.