The last dark before dawn at the gray ash heap: a small wrapped man seen from behind faces east, where the first thin line of light lies along a bare horizon under a deep, empty sky.

The Book of

Job 19

Job answers, round two. Bildad has just told him his name will vanish from the earth. Job replies with the most famous words in the book.

29 verses≈ 3 min2 peopleBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

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In this chapter

Where we are

1–3The testBlameless, stripped of everything, and his cry
4–14Round oneThe friends speak; Job answers
15–21Round twoMy Redeemer livesChapter 19
22–31Round threeThen wisdom, and Job's last defense
32–37ElihuA younger voice
38–41The LORD speaksOut of the whirlwind
42The endJob prays and is restored

Job: My Redeemer Lives

Job

Job

Then Job answered:

“How long will you torment me

and crush me with your words?

Ten times now you have reproached me;

you shamelessly mistreat me.

Even if I have truly gone astray,

my error concerns me alone.

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Job

Job

If indeed you would exalt yourselves above me

and use my disgrace against me,

then understand that it is God who has wronged me

and drawn His net around me.

Job

Question

Quick question

Bildad spoke of a net. Job has his own answer.

What does Job say God has drawn around him?

Job

The open door flap of an old black tent in flat afternoon light with nobody inside; far off a servant walks away with his back turned, and a distant woman stands at another tent, not looking.

He has removed my brothers from me;

my acquaintances have abandoned me.

My kinsmen have failed me,

and my friends have forgotten me.

My guests and maidservants count me as a stranger;

I am a foreigner in their sight.

I call for my servant, but he does not answer,

though I implore him with my own mouth.

My breath is repulsive to my wife,

and I am loathsome to my own family.

Even little boys scorn me;

when I appear, they deride me.

All my best friends despise me,

and those I love have turned against me.

0:32

Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

Job

My skin and flesh cling to my bones;

I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.

Job

Have pity on me, my friends, have pity,

for the hand of God has struck me.

Why do you persecute me as God does?

Will you never get enough of my flesh?

Reflect

Have pity

“Have pity on me, my friends, have pity.” Who around you is asking this, perhaps without words? What is one thing you could do today? Write it down.

Job

Job

I wish that my words were recorded

and inscribed in a book,

by an iron stylus on lead,

or chiseled in stone forever.

Job

Sunrise over the gray dust of the ash heap and the empty land, a tiny dark wrapped man sitting up straight with his back to us, facing the rising light under a wide, clear gold sky.

But I know that my Redeemer lives,

and in the end He will stand upon the earth.

Even after my skin has been destroyed,

yet in my flesh I will see God.

I will see Him for myself;

my eyes will behold Him, and not as a stranger.

How my heart yearns within me!

0:17

Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

Job

If you say, ‘Let us persecute him,

since the root of the matter lies with him,’

then you should fear the sword yourselves,

because wrath brings punishment by the sword,

so that you may know there is a judgment.”

Job

But I know that my Redeemer lives, and in the end He will stand upon the earth.

Job 19:25

Pray

Thank God that our Redeemer lives. Pray for those who have no one left to stand up for them, and for those near death. Thank Him for the hope of seeing God. Ask for grace to say “I know” in the dark.

Job’s hope climbs

Whiteboard

His friends kept pushing him down, and his hope climbed anyway, though not in a straight line. He began with no one to stand between him and God. Now he says “I know.”

You’ve experienced

Job 19

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A verse to carry with you

But I know that my Redeemer lives, and in the end He will stand upon the earth.

Job 19:25

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