If the scourge slay suddenly, he will laugh at the trial of the innocent.
Parallel translations
- WEB If the scourge kills suddenly, he will mock at the trial of the innocent.
- BSB When the scourge brings sudden death, He mocks the despair of the innocent.
- NKJV If the scourge slays suddenly, He laughs at the plight of the innocent.
- NASB “If the whip kills suddenly, He mocks the despair of the innocent.
- NLT When a plague sweeps through, he laughs at the death of the innocent.
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 charges that when sudden disaster kills, God seems to mock the despair of the innocent. It is among Job's most anguished accusations.
Overview
Job, overwhelmed, accuses God of indifference, even mockery, toward the suffering of the innocent struck by sudden calamity. These are the bitter words of profound grief, not the book's final teaching. God's later answer does not endorse this charge but reveals a wisdom and care Job could not yet perceive, calling readers to trust beyond what they can see.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Job 24:12Men groan from out of the city, and the soul of the wounded crieth out: yet God layeth not folly to them.
- 2 Sam 14:15Now therefore that I am come to speak of this thing unto my lord the king, it is because the people have made me afraid: and thy handmaid said, I will now speak unto the king; it may be that the king will perform the request of his handmaid.
- Job 8:20Behold, God will not cast away a perfect man, neither will he help the evil doers:
- Ezek 14:19–21Or if I send a pestilence into that land, and pour out my fury upon it in blood, to cut off from it man and beast:
- Job 2:7So went Satan forth from the presence of the LORD, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown.
- Heb 11:36–37And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment:
- Job 4:7Remember, I pray thee, who ever perished, being innocent? or where were the righteous cut off?
- Ezek 21:13Because it is a trial, and what if the sword contemn even the rod? it shall be no more, saith the Lord GOD.
- Ps 44:22Yea, for thy sake are we killed all the day long; we are counted as sheep for the slaughter.
- 2 Sam 14:17Then thine handmaid said, The word of my lord the king shall now be comfortable: for as an angel of God, so is my lord the king to discern good and bad: therefore the LORD thy God will be with thee.
- Job 1:13–19And there was a day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother’s house:
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 9:23 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.