My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust; my skin is broken, and become loathsome.
Parallel translations
- WEB My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust. My skin closes up, and breaks out afresh.
- BSB My flesh is clothed with worms and encrusted with dirt; my skin is cracked and festering.
- NKJV My flesh is caked with worms and dust, My skin is cracked and breaks out afresh.
- NASB “My flesh is clothed with maggots and a crust of dirt, My skin hardens and oozes.
- NLT My body is covered with maggots and scabs. My skin breaks open, oozing with pus.
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 graphically describes his diseased body, covered with worms and crusted skin that cracks and oozes. His physical torment is severe and degrading.
Overview
This vivid, unsettling description reflects the bodily horror of Job's affliction following Satan's attack on his health (Job 2:7). The decay of his flesh mirrors the corruption of death encroaching while he still lives. It underscores the depth of suffering a blameless man endures, setting the stage for the larger question of God's justice.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Job 17:14I have said to corruption, Thou art my father: to the worm, Thou art my mother, and my sister.
- Isa 14:11Thy pomp is brought down to the grave, and the noise of thy viols: the worm is spread under thee, and the worms cover thee.
- Job 2:7–8So went Satan forth from the presence of the LORD, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown.
- Ps 38:5–7My wounds stink and are corrupt because of my foolishness.
- Isa 1:6From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment.
- Job 9:31Yet shalt thou plunge me in the ditch, and mine own clothes shall abhor me.
- Job 30:18–19By the great force of my disease is my garment changed: it bindeth me about as the collar of my coat.
- Isa 66:24And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh.
- Ezek 20:43And there shall ye remember your ways, and all your doings, wherein ye have been defiled; and ye shall lothe yourselves in your own sight for all your evils that ye have committed.
- Job 24:20The womb shall forget him; the worm shall feed sweetly on him; he shall be no more remembered; and wickedness shall be broken as a tree.
- Job 19:26And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God:
- Acts 12:23And immediately the angel of the Lord smote him, because he gave not God the glory: and he was eaten of worms, and gave up the ghost.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 7:5 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.