Job 19 · Verse 20

Job 19:20

My bone cleaveth to my skin and to my flesh, and I am escaped with the skin of my teeth.
Job 19:20, King James Version

Job 19:20 in other translations

BSBMy skin and flesh cling to my bones; I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.
WEBMy bones stick to my skin and to my flesh. I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.
ASVMy bone cleaveth to my skin and to my flesh, And I am escaped with the skin of my teeth.
YLTTo my skin and to my flesh Cleaved hath my bone, And I deliver myself with the skin of my teeth.
DARBYMy bones cleave to my skin and to my flesh, and I am escaped with the skin of my teeth.
BBEMy bones are joined to my skin, and I have got away with my flesh in my teeth.
WebsterMy bone cleaveth to my skin and to my flesh, and I have escaped with the skin of my teeth.

What does Job 19:20 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
20. Extreme meagerness. The bone seemed to stick in the skin, being seen through it, owing to the flesh drying up and falling away from the bone. The Margin, "as to my flesh," makes this sense clearer. The English Version, however, expresses the same: "And to my flesh," namely, which has fallen away from the bone, instead of firmly covering it. skin of my teeth--proverbial. I have escaped with bare life; I am whole only with the skin of my teeth; that is, my gums alone are whole, the rest of the skin of my body is broken with sores (Job 7:5; Psa 102:5). Satan left Job his speech, in hope that he might therewith curse God.

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 20 My bone cleaveth to my skin - My flesh is entirely wasted away, and nothing but skin and bone left. I am escaped with the skin of my teeth - I have had the most narrow escape. If I still live, it is a thing to be wondered at, my sufferings and privations have been so great. To escape with the skin of the teeth seems to have been a proverbial expression, signifying great difficulty. I had as narrow an escape from death, as the thickness of the enamel on the teeth. I was within a hair's breadth of destruction; see on Job 19:11 (note).

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Job 19:8-22

How doleful are Job's complaints! What is the fire of hell but the wrath of God! Seared consciences will feel it hereafter, but do not fear it now: enlightened consciences fear it now, but shall not feel it hereafter. It is a very common mistake to think that those whom God afflicts he treats as his enemies. Every creature is that to us which God makes it to be; yet this does not excuse Job's relations and friends…

Read the full comment on Job 19:8-22 →

Job 19:20 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

בְּעוֹרִ֣יbe.'o.Rion skin myH5785
וּ֭בִבְשָׂרִיU.viv.sa.riand on flesh myH1320
דָּבְקָ֣הda.ve.Kahit clingsH1692
עַצְמִ֑י'atz.Mibone myH6106
וָ֝אֶתְמַלְּטָ֗הva.'et.ma.le.Tahand I have escaped !H4422
בְּע֣וֹרbe.'orwith [the] skin ofH5785
שִׁנָּֽי\׃shi.Naiteeth myH8127

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Job 19:20

  • Psalms 102:5

    By reason of the voice of my groaning my bones cleave to my skin.

  • Lamentations 4:8

    Their visage is blacker than a coal; they are not known in the streets: their skin cleaveth to their bones; it is withered, it is become like a stick.

  • Job 33:19-22

    He is chastened also with pain upon his bed, and the multitude of his bones with strong pain: So that his life abhorreth bread, and his soul dainty meat. His flesh is consumed away, that it cannot be seen; and his bones that were not seen stick out. Yea, his soul draweth near unto the grave, and his life to the destroyers.

  • Psalms 22:14-17

    I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels. My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death. For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet. I may tell all my bones: they look and stare upon me.

  • Job 2:4-6

    And Satan answered the Lord, and said, Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life. But put forth thine hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face. And the Lord said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thine hand; but save his life.

  • Job 7:5

    My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust; my skin is broken, and become loathsome.

  • Lamentations 3:4

    My flesh and my skin hath he made old; he hath broken my bones.

  • Psalms 32:3-4

    When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long. For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer. Selah.

  • Job 30:30

    My skin is black upon me, and my bones are burned with heat.

  • Lamentations 5:10

    Our skin was black like an oven because of the terrible famine.

  • Psalms 102:3

    For my days are consumed like smoke, and my bones are burned as an hearth.

  • Psalms 38:3

    There is no soundness in my flesh because of thine anger; neither is there any rest in my bones because of my sin.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
bone.
30:30; 33:19-22; Ps 22:14-17; 32:3,4; 38:3; 102:3,5; La 4:8
and to. or, as. and I am.
2:4-6; 7:5; La 3:4; 5:10

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Job 19:19

    All my inward friends abhorred me: and they whom I loved are turned against me.

  • Job 19:20

    My bone cleaveth to my skin and to my flesh, and I am escaped with the skin of my teeth.

  • Job 19:21

    Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O ye my friends; for the hand of God hath touched me.

Read all of Job 19

Job 19:20 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909
Mi cuero y mi carne se pegaron á mis huesos; y he escapado con la piel de mis dientes.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885
Mes os s’attachent à ma peau et à ma chair, et j’ai échappé avec la peau de mes dents!
German
Elberfelder 1871
Mein Gebein klebt an meiner Haut und an meinem Fleische, und nur mit der Haut meiner Zähne bin ich entronnen.
Latin
Clementine Vulgate
Pelli meæ, consumptis carnibus, adhæsit os meum, et derelicta sunt tantummodo labia circa dentes meos.