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If God will not withdraw his anger, the proud helpers do stoop under him.
Job 9:13 · King James Version
Parallel translations
  • WEB “God will not withdraw his anger. The helpers of Rahab stoop under him.
  • BSB God does not restrain His anger; the helpers of Rahab cower beneath Him.
  • NKJV God will not withdraw His anger, The allies of the proud lie prostrate beneath Him.
  • NASB ¶“God will not turn back His anger; Beneath Him the helpers of Rahab cower.
  • NLT And God does not restrain his anger. Even the monsters of the sea are crushed beneath his feet.

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 says God's anger is unrelenting, and even the helpers of Rahab bow beneath him. The mightiest powers submit to God.

Overview

Rahab here is a symbol of chaotic, prideful power, sometimes pictured as a sea-monster of myth used poetically in the Old Testament. Job affirms that even such proud forces stoop before God. The image magnifies God's supremacy over every power, leaving Job all the more aware of his own smallness in any contest with the Almighty.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 7

  • Job 26:12He divideth the sea with his power, and by his understanding he smiteth through the proud.
  • Ps 89:10Thou hast broken Rahab in pieces, as one that is slain; thou hast scattered thine enemies with thy strong arm.
  • Isa 30:7For the Egyptians shall help in vain, and to no purpose: therefore have I cried concerning this, Their strength is to sit still.
  • Isa 51:9Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the LORD; awake, as in the ancient days, in the generations of old. Art thou not it that hath cut Rahab, and wounded the dragon?
  • Jas 4:6–7But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.
  • Isa 31:2–3Yet he also is wise, and will bring evil, and will not call back his words: but will arise against the house of the evildoers, and against the help of them that work iniquity.
  • Job 40:9–11Hast thou an arm like God? or canst thou thunder with a voice like him?

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (1)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Job videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Job 9:13YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on JobMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    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 9:13 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.