Job 16:13
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His archers surround me. He pierces my kidneys without mercy and spills my gall on the ground.
Commentaries
Excerpts gathered from published commentaries to ground the reading.
This chapter begins Job's reply to that discourse of Eliphaz which we had in the foregoing chapter; it is but the second part of the same song of lamentation with which he had before bemoaned himself, and is set to the same melancholy tune. I. He upbraids his friends with their unkind usage of him (Job 16:1-5). II. He represents his own case as very deplorable upon all accounts (Job 16:6-16). III. He still holds fast his integrity, concerning which he appeals to God's righteous judgment from the unrighteous censures of his friends (Job 16:14-22).
Open source ↗16:13 pierce me: Literally pierce my kidneys. • my blood: Literally my gall. The picture is of wounds to vital organs.
Open source ↗Original language
The Hebrew and Greek words behind this passage, with Strong's numbers — from openscriptures (CC BY-SA).
Cross-references
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It is drawn out of his back, the gleaming point from his liver. Terrors come over him.
For the arrows of the Almighty have pierced me; my spirit drinks in their poison; the terrors of God are arrayed against me.
My eyes fail from weeping; I am churning within. My heart is poured out in grief over the destruction of the daughter of my people, because children and infants faint in the streets of the city.
The LORD will never be willing to forgive him. Instead, His anger and jealousy will burn against that man, and every curse written in this book will fall upon him. The LORD will blot out his name from under heaven
Therefore as surely as I live, declares the Lord GOD, because you have defiled My sanctuary with all your detestable idols and abominations, I Myself will withdraw My favor; I will not look upon you with pity, nor will I spare you.
He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also, along with Him, freely give us all things?
He pierced my kidneys with His arrows.
The archers attacked him with bitterness; they aimed at him in hostility.
I will see Him for myself; my eyes will behold Him, and not as a stranger. How my heart yearns within me!
It still brings me comfort, and joy through unrelenting pain, that I have not denied the words of the Holy One.