For the arrows of the Almighty are within me. My spirit drinks up their poison. The terrors of God set themselves in array against me.
Parallel translations
- KJV For the arrows of the Almighty are within me, the poison whereof drinketh up my spirit: the terrors of God do set themselves in array against me.
- BSB For the arrows of the Almighty have pierced me; my spirit drinks in their poison; the terrors of God are arrayed against me.
- NKJV For the arrows of the Almighty are within me; My spirit drinks in their poison; The terrors of God are arrayed against me.
- NASB “For the arrows of the Almighty are within me, My spirit drinks their poison; The terrors of God line up against me.
- NLT For the Almighty has struck me down with his arrows. Their poison infects my spirit. God’s terrors are lined up 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
The arrows of the Almighty are in him, his spirit drinks their poison, and God's terrors are arrayed against him. Job feels his suffering as a direct assault from God.
Overview
Job describes his pain as poisoned arrows from God and a battle line of terrors set against him. He rightly senses God's hand in his trial, though he does not know the heavenly backdrop. His sense of being targeted by God anticipates the deeper mystery answered at Calvary, where the Son willingly took the arrows of divine judgment so that those who trust him need not be pierced by wrath.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 19
- Ps 38:2For your arrows have pierced me, your hand presses hard on me.
- Job 30:15Terrors have turned on me. They chase my honor as the wind. My welfare has passed away as a cloud.
- Ps 88:15–16I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up. While I suffer your terrors, I am distracted.
- Prov 18:14A man’s spirit will sustain him in sickness, but a crushed spirit, who can bear?
- Mark 15:34At the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” which is, being interpreted, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
- Ps 143:7Hurry to answer me, Yahweh. My spirit fails. Don’t hide your face from me, so that I don’t become like those who go down into the pit.
- Job 16:12–14I was at ease, and he broke me apart. Yes, he has taken me by the neck, and dashed me to pieces. He has also set me up for his target.
- Lam 3:12–13He has bent his bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow.
- Job 9:17For he breaks me with a storm, and multiplies my wounds without cause.
- Ps 21:12For you will make them turn their back, when you aim drawn bows at their face.
- Deut 32:42I will make my arrows drunk with blood. My sword shall devour flesh with the blood of the slain and the captives, from the head of the leaders of the enemy.”
- Ps 18:14He sent out his arrows, and scattered them; Yes, great lightning bolts, and routed them.
- Ps 7:13He has also prepared for himself the instruments of death. He makes ready his flaming arrows.
- Job 31:23For calamity from God is a terror to me. Because his majesty, I can do nothing.
- Mark 14:33–34He took with him Peter, James, and John, and began to be greatly troubled and distressed.
- Ps 45:5Your arrows are sharp. The nations fall under you, with arrows in the heart of the king’s enemies.
- Job 21:20Let his own eyes see his destruction. Let him drink of the wrath of the Almighty.
- 2 Cor 5:11Knowing therefore the fear of the Lord, we persuade men, but we are revealed to God; and I hope that we are revealed also in your consciences.
- Deut 32:23–24“I will heap evils on them. I will spend my arrows on them.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 6:4 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.