“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,
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.
- 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!
- 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 far from me; and don’t let your terror make me afraid.
- Job 40:4–5“Behold, I am of small account. What shall I answer you? I lay my hand on my mouth.
- Job 38:1–3Then Yahweh answered Job out of the whirlwind,
- Job 35:14How much less when you say you don’t see him. The cause is before him, and you wait for him!
- Job 23:3–7Oh that I knew where I might find him! That I might come even to his seat!
- Job 19:23–24“Oh that my words were now written! Oh that they were inscribed in a book!
- Job 19:7“Behold, I cry out of wrong, but I am not heard. I cry for help, but there is no justice.
- Job 13:3“Surely I would speak to the Almighty. I desire to reason with God.
- Job 17:3“Now give a pledge, be collateral for me with yourself. Who is there who will strike hands with me?
- Job 13:24Why hide you your face, and hold me for your enemy?
- Job 33:6Behold, I am toward God even as you are. I am also formed out of the clay.
- Job 30:28I go mourning without the sun. I stand up in the assembly, and cry for help.
- Job 33:10–11Behold, he finds occasions against me. He counts me for his enemy.
- Ps 26:1By David. Judge me, Yahweh, for I have walked in my integrity. I have trusted also in Yahweh without wavering.
- Job 19:11He has also kindled his wrath against me. He counts me among his adversaries.
- Job 27:7“Let my enemy be as the wicked. Let him who rises up against me be as the unrighteous.
- Matt 5:25Agree with your adversary quickly, while you are with him on the way; lest perhaps the prosecutor deliver you to the judge, and the judge deliver you to the officer, and you 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.