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.
Parallel translations
- WEB 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.
- 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 thine arrows stick fast in me, and thy hand presseth me sore.
- Job 30:15Terrors are turned upon me: they pursue my soul as the wind: and my welfare passeth away as a cloud.
- Ps 88:15–16I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up: while I suffer thy terrors I am distracted.
- Prov 18:14The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity; but a wounded spirit who can bear?
- Mark 15:34And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
- Ps 143:7Hear me speedily, O LORD: my spirit faileth: hide not thy face from me, lest I be like unto them that go down into the pit.
- Job 16:12–14I was at ease, but he hath broken me asunder: he hath also taken me by my neck, and shaken me to pieces, and set me up for his mark.
- Lam 3:12–13He hath bent his bow, and set me as a mark for the arrow.
- Job 9:17For he breaketh me with a tempest, and multiplieth my wounds without cause.
- Ps 21:12Therefore shalt thou make them turn their back, when thou shalt make ready thine arrows upon thy strings against the face of them.
- Deut 32:42I will make mine arrows drunk with blood, and my sword shall devour flesh; and that with the blood of the slain and of the captives, from the beginning of revenges upon the enemy.
- Ps 18:14Yea, he sent out his arrows, and scattered them; and he shot out lightnings, and discomfited them.
- Ps 7:13He hath also prepared for him the instruments of death; he ordaineth his arrows against the persecutors.
- Job 31:23For destruction from God was a terror to me, and by reason of his highness I could not endure.
- Mark 14:33–34And he taketh with him Peter and James and John, and began to be sore amazed, and to be very heavy;
- Ps 45:5Thine arrows are sharp in the heart of the king’s enemies; whereby the people fall under thee.
- Job 21:20His eyes shall see his destruction, and he shall drink of the wrath of the Almighty.
- 2 Cor 5:11Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are made manifest unto God; and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences.
- Deut 32:23–24I will heap mischiefs upon them; I will spend mine arrows upon 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.