(Oh, that I had one to hear me! Here is my signature. Let the Almighty answer me; let my accuser compose an indictment.
Parallel translations
- WEB oh that I had one to hear me! Behold, here is my signature! Let the Almighty answer me! Let the accuser write my indictment!
- KJV Oh that one would hear me! behold, my desire is, that the Almighty would answer me, and that mine adversary had written a book.
- NKJV Oh, that I had one to hear me! Here is my mark. Oh, that the Almighty would answer me, That my Prosecutor had written a book!
- NASB “Oh that I had one to hear me! Here is my signature; Let the Almighty answer me! And the indictment which my adversary has written,
- NLT “If only someone would listen to me! Look, I will sign my name to my defense. Let the Almighty answer me. Let my accuser write out the charges against 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 longs for someone to hear him and presents his signature, calling on the Almighty to answer and his accuser to write the charge. He boldly seeks a fair hearing before God.
Overview
In a climactic appeal, Job signs his defense and summons God to respond, even wishing for a written indictment so the case could be settled. His confidence is striking, yet it borders on demanding that God justify himself. God will indeed answer Job, though not as Job expects, and the longing for a mediator between man and God finds its ultimate answer in Christ, the one mediator who stands between God and humanity.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 17
- Job 13:21–22Withdraw Your hand from me, and do not let Your terror frighten me.
- Job 40:4–5“Behold, I am insignificant. How can I reply to You? I place my hand over my mouth.
- Job 38:1–3Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said:
- Job 35:14How much less, then, when you say that you do not see Him, that your case is before Him and you must wait for Him,
- Job 23:3–7If only I knew where to find Him, so that I could go to His seat.
- Job 19:23–24I wish that my words were recorded and inscribed in a book,
- Job 19:7Though I cry out, ‘Violence!’ I get no response; though I call for help, there is no justice.
- Job 13:3Yet I desire to speak to the Almighty and argue my case before God.
- Job 17:3Give me, I pray, the pledge You demand. Who else will be my guarantor?
- Job 13:24Why do You hide Your face and consider me as Your enemy?
- Job 33:6I am just like you before God; I was also formed from clay.
- Job 30:28I go about blackened, but not by the sun. I stand up in the assembly and cry for help.
- Job 33:10–11Yet God finds occasions against me; He counts me as His enemy.
- Ps 26:1Of David. Vindicate me, O LORD! For I have walked with integrity; I have trusted in the LORD without wavering.
- Job 19:11His anger burns against me, and He counts me among His enemies.
- Job 27:7May my enemy be like the wicked and my opponent like the unjust.
- Matt 5:25Reconcile quickly with your adversary, while you are still on the way to court. Otherwise, he may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 31:35 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.