How long will you not look away from me, nor leave me alone until I swallow down my spittle?
Parallel translations
- KJV How long wilt thou not depart from me, nor let me alone till I swallow down my spittle?
- BSB Will You never look away from me, or leave me alone to swallow my spittle?
- NKJV How long? Will You not look away from me, And let me alone till I swallow my saliva?
- NASB “Will You never turn Your gaze away from me, Nor leave me alone until I swallow my spittle?
- NLT Why won’t you leave me alone, at least long enough for me to swallow!
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 begs God to look away even briefly, long enough for him to swallow. He longs for the smallest moment of relief from God's gaze.
Overview
With almost desperate hyperbole, Job pleads for a mere instant free from God's attention. The vividness conveys how relentless his suffering feels. Job's lament assumes God's nearness even as he wishes for distance, revealing a faith that cannot finally escape the God it wrestles with.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Job 9:18He will not allow me to catch my breath, but fills me with bitterness.
- Job 14:6Look away from him, that he may rest, until he shall accomplish, as a hireling, his day.
- Ps 13:1–3For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David. How long, Yahweh? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?
- Ps 94:3Yahweh, how long will the wicked, how long will the wicked triumph?
- Rev 6:10They cried with a loud voice, saying, “How long, Master, the holy and true, until you judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”
- Ps 6:3My soul is also in great anguish. But you, Yahweh — how long?
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
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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 7:19 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.