So that his life loathes bread, And his soul, food that he should crave.
Parallel translations
- WEB So that his life abhors bread, and his soul dainty food.
- KJV So that his life abhorreth bread, and his soul dainty meat.
- 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.
- 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 comes before I eat. My groanings are poured out like water.
- Ps 107:17–18Fools are afflicted because of their disobedience, and because of their iniquities.
- Jer 3:19“But I said, ‘How I desire to put you among the children, and give you a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of the armies of the nations!’ and I said, ‘You shall call me “My Father”, and shall not turn away from following me.’
- Amos 5:11Therefore, because you trample on the poor, and take taxes from him of wheat: You have built houses of cut stone, but you will not dwell in them. You have planted pleasant vineyards, but you shall not drink their wine.
- Gen 3:6When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took some of its fruit, and ate; and she gave some to her husband with her, and he ate it, too.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Commentaries & study tools
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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 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.