Wisdom · Chapter 13 of 42
Job 13
Job insists he knows as much as his friends and would rather argue his case with God than listen to their worthless lies. He calls them forgers of lies and physicians of no value, warning that God will rebuke their false defense of him. Then, in a stunning declaration of faith, he vows that though God slay him, he will still trust him, confident he will be justified.
What happens in Job 13
Job asserts that he has understood everything his friends have said and is in no way inferior to them. But he would rather reason his case with the Almighty than trade arguments with them, for they are forgers of lies and worthless physicians; their silence would be their wisdom. Then Job turns the tables: are they willing to speak wickedly on God's behalf, showing partiality as if flattering him in court? God will surely reprove such crooked advocacy.
Job resolves to take his life in his hands and speak, uttering the book's most famous vow: though God slay him, yet will he trust in him, while still defending his own ways to God's face. This very boldness, he says, will be his salvation, for no hypocrite would dare come before him. He asks God only to remove his terror and the crushing hand, then to summon him or let him speak, and to reveal what his sins actually are.
Job 13 in context
Chapter 13 marks a turning point. Job gives up on his friends as counselors, dismissing them as liars and quack doctors, and resolves to take his complaint straight to God, even at the risk of his life. His declaration, though he slay me, yet will I trust in him, is one of the summits of Old Testament faith, though its Hebrew is famously debated.
Whatever the precise wording, Job stakes everything on a God he still trusts to vindicate him, insisting a hypocrite would never dare seek God's face as he does.
Main themes of Job 13
Job 13 (KJV)
1Lo, mine eye hath seen all this, mine ear hath heard and understood it. 2What ye know, the same do I know also: I am not inferior unto you. 3Surely I would speak to the Almighty, and I desire to reason with God. 4But ye are forgers of lies, ye are all physicians of no value. 5O that ye would altogether hold your peace! and it should be your wisdom. 6Hear now my reasoning, and hearken to the pleadings of my lips. 7Will ye speak wickedly for God? and talk deceitfully for him? 8Will ye accept his person? will ye contend for God? 9Is it good that he should search you out? or as one man mocketh another, do ye so mock him? 10He will surely reprove you, if ye do secretly accept persons. 11Shall not his excellency make you afraid? and his dread fall upon you? 12Your remembrances are like unto ashes, your bodies to bodies of clay. 13Hold your peace, let me alone, that I may speak, and let come on me what will. 14Wherefore do I take my flesh in my teeth, and put my life in mine hand? 15Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him. 16He also shall be my salvation: for an hypocrite shall not come before him. 17Hear diligently my speech, and my declaration with your ears. 18Behold now, I have ordered my cause; I know that I shall be justified. 19Who is he that will plead with me? for now, if I hold my tongue, I shall give up the ghost. 20Only do not two things unto me: then will I not hide myself from thee. 21Withdraw thine hand far from me: and let not thy dread make me afraid. 22Then call thou, and I will answer: or let me speak, and answer thou me. 23How many are mine iniquities and sins? make me to know my transgression and my sin. 24Wherefore hidest thou thy face, and holdest me for thine enemy? 25Wilt thou break a leaf driven to and fro? and wilt thou pursue the dry stubble? 26For thou writest bitter things against me, and makest me to possess the iniquities of my youth. 27Thou puttest my feet also in the stocks, and lookest narrowly unto all my paths; thou settest a print upon the heels of my feet. 28And he, as a rotten thing, consumeth, as a garment that is moth eaten.
Verses to carry from Job 13
“Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him.”Job 13:15
“He also shall be my salvation: for an hypocrite shall not come before him.”Job 13:16
“How many are mine iniquities and sins? make me to know my transgression and my sin.”Job 13:23
Thematic connection
How Job 13 points to Jesus
Job declares that though God slay him, he will trust him, and that God himself will be his salvation. In these words a suffering man reaches toward a hope that Christ makes solid. Job trusted God even unto death without knowing how death could be conquered; Jesus, the truly innocent sufferer, actually was slain while trusting the Father, praying into his hands, and God became his salvation by raising him.
Job insisted that no hypocrite could come before God, that only honest integrity dares approach. Christ, the sinless one, opens that access for us, so that we too may come boldly before God. Job's vow to trust through death is answered by a Savior who passed through death and out the other side, making our own dying the doorway to vindication. This is a thematic connection anchored in Job 13:15 to 16.
Questions about Job 13
What does 'Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him' mean?
It is Job's vow to hold onto God even if his suffering ends in his death. His trust is not conditional on rescue; he will cling to God whether or not God spares his life. The Hebrew is debated and some read it as defiance, but the traditional rendering captures the heart of biblical faith: trusting God for God's own sake, not merely for what he gives.
Did the New Testament use Job 13:16?
Yes. When Paul writes in Philippians 1:19 that his trial shall turn to his salvation, he echoes the Greek of Job 13:16, this shall be my salvation. Job spoke it of his confidence that his integrity would be vindicated before God; Paul applies the same trust to his imprisonment for Christ. It is a small thread linking Job's faith in the face of death to the apostle's joy in suffering for the Gospel.
Reflection
Job's faith did not depend on a good outcome. Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him is a love for God that survives even the loss of life. Ask whether your trust is anchored to God himself or only to the blessings you hope he gives.
And take heart that Christ trusted the Father through death and rose, making such faith more than a gamble.
A prayer from Job 13
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