then may my arm fall from my shoulder and be torn from its socket.
Parallel translations
- WEB then let my shoulder fall from the shoulder blade, and my arm be broken from the bone.
- KJV Then let mine arm fall from my shoulder blade, and mine arm be broken from the bone.
- NKJV Then let my arm fall from my shoulder, Let my arm be torn from the socket.
- NASB May my shoulder fall from its socket, And my arm be broken off at the elbow.
- NLT then let my shoulder be wrenched out of place! Let my arm be torn from its socket!
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 accepts that if he had oppressed the fatherless, his arm should be torn from its socket. He stakes his bodily strength on his innocence.
Overview
Completing the oath of verse 21, Job invites that the arm he might have raised in injustice be broken and fall from his shoulder if he is guilty. The self-curse fits the offense, since the arm was the instrument of any wrongdoing against the weak. The severity shows Job's confidence in his integrity and his reverence for the God who judges injustice, a judgment Christ bore on behalf of the guilty.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Josh 22:22–23“The LORD, the Mighty One, is God! The LORD, the Mighty One, is God! He knows, and may Israel also know. If this was in rebellion or breach of faith against the LORD, do not spare us today.
- Job 38:15Light is withheld from the wicked, and their upraised arm is broken.
- Job 31:40then let briers grow instead of wheat and stinkweed instead of barley.” Thus conclude the words of Job.
- Job 31:10then may my own wife grind grain for another, and may other men sleep with her.
- Ps 7:4–5if I have rewarded my ally with evil, if I have plundered my foe without cause,
- Ps 137:6May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, if I do not exalt Jerusalem as my greatest joy!
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 31:22 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.