If I had called, and he had answered me; yet would I not believe that he had hearkened unto my voice.
Parallel translations
- WEB If I had called, and he had answered me, yet I wouldn’t believe that he listened to my voice.
- BSB If I summoned Him and He answered me, I do not believe He would listen to my voice.
- NKJV If I called and He answered me, I would not believe that He was listening to my voice.
- NASB “If I called and He answered me, I could not believe that He was listening to my voice.
- NLT And even if I summoned him and he responded, I’m not sure he would listen to 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
Job says that even if he called and God answered, he could scarcely believe God was truly listening. His sense of distance from God runs deep.
Overview
Job's anguish makes him doubt whether God would really attend to his voice even if he responded. This reflects the despair that suffering can breed, clouding confidence in God's care. The book moves toward dispelling such doubt when God does answer Job directly out of the whirlwind (Job 38:1).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Ps 116:1–2I love the LORD, because he hath heard my voice and my supplications.
- Judg 6:13And Gideon said unto him, Oh my Lord, if the LORD be with us, why then is all this befallen us? and where be all his miracles which our fathers told us of, saying, Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt? but now the LORD hath forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.
- Ps 18:6In my distress I called upon the LORD, and cried unto my God: he heard my voice out of his temple, and my cry came before him, even into his ears.
- Ps 126:1When the LORD turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that dream.
- Luke 24:41And while they yet believed not for joy, and wondered, he said unto them, Have ye here any meat?
- Job 29:24If I laughed on them, they believed it not; and the light of my countenance they cast not down.
- Exod 6:9And Moses spake so unto the children of Israel: but they hearkened not unto Moses for anguish of spirit, and for cruel bondage.
- Ps 66:18–20If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me:
- Acts 12:14–16And when she knew Peter’s voice, she opened not the gate for gladness, but ran in, and told how Peter stood before the gate.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 9:16 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.