Oh that one would hear me! behold, my desire is, that the Almighty would answer me, and that mine adversary had written a book.
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!
- BSB (Oh, that I had one to hear me! Here is my signature. Let the Almighty answer me; let my accuser compose an indictment.
- 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 thine hand far from me: and let not thy dread make me afraid.
- Job 40:4–5Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth.
- Job 38:1–3Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said,
- Job 35:14Although thou sayest thou shalt not see him, yet judgment is before him; therefore trust thou in him.
- Job 23:3–7Oh that I knew where I might find him! that I might come even to his seat!
- Job 19:23–24Oh that my words were now written! oh that they were printed in a book!
- Job 19:7Behold, I cry out of wrong, but I am not heard: I cry aloud, but there is no judgment.
- Job 13:3Surely I would speak to the Almighty, and I desire to reason with God.
- Job 17:3Lay down now, put me in a surety with thee; who is he that will strike hands with me?
- Job 13:24Wherefore hidest thou thy face, and holdest me for thine enemy?
- Job 33:6Behold, I am according to thy wish in God’s stead: I also am formed out of the clay.
- Job 30:28I went mourning without the sun: I stood up, and I cried in the congregation.
- Job 33:10–11Behold, he findeth occasions against me, he counteth me for his enemy,
- Ps 26:1Judge me, O LORD; for I have walked in mine integrity: I have trusted also in the LORD; therefore I shall not slide.
- Job 19:11He hath also kindled his wrath against me, and he counteth me unto him as one of his enemies.
- Job 27:7Let mine enemy be as the wicked, and he that riseth up against me as the unrighteous.
- Matt 5:25Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast 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.