So that his life abhorreth bread, and his soul dainty meat.
Parallel translations
- WEB So that his life abhors bread, and his soul dainty food.
- BSB so that he detests his bread, and his soul loathes his favorite food.
- NKJV So that his life abhors bread, And his soul succulent food.
- NASB So that his life loathes bread, And his soul, food that he should crave.
- NLT They lose their appetite for even the most delicious food.
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
God says no one can see His face and live, for His full glory is unbearable to sinful humanity. God's holiness is too great for mortals to behold directly.
Overview
Sinful human beings cannot survive the unveiled presence of God's holy glory. This both protects Moses and humbles all who would presume upon God. The truth heightens the wonder of the incarnation, where in Christ the glory of God is revealed in a way humanity can behold and live (John 1:14, 18).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 5
- Job 3:24For my sighing cometh before I eat, and my roarings are poured out like the waters.
- Ps 107:17–18Fools because of their transgression, and because of their iniquities, are afflicted.
- Jer 3:19But I said, How shall I put thee among the children, and give thee a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of the hosts of nations? and I said, Thou shalt call me, My father; and shalt not turn away from me.
- Amos 5:11Forasmuch therefore as your treading is upon the poor, and ye take from him burdens of wheat: ye have built houses of hewn stone, but ye shall not dwell in them; ye have planted pleasant vineyards, but ye shall not drink wine of them.
- Gen 3:6And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
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 33:20 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.