How long wilt thou not depart from me, nor let me alone till I swallow down my spittle?
Parallel translations
- WEB How long will you not look away from me, nor leave me alone until 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 suffer me to take my breath, but filleth me with bitterness.
- Job 14:6Turn from him, that he may rest, till he shall accomplish, as an hireling, his day.
- Ps 13:1–3How long wilt thou forget me, O LORD? for ever? how long wilt thou hide thy face from me?
- Ps 94:3LORD, how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked triumph?
- Rev 6:10And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?
- Ps 6:3My soul is also sore vexed: but thou, O LORD, how long?
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
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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 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.