Job 9 · Verse 23

Job 9:23

If the scourge slay suddenly, he will laugh at the trial of the innocent.
Job 9:23, King James Version

Job 9:23 in other translations

BSBWhen the scourge brings sudden death, He mocks the despair of the innocent.
WEBIf the scourge kills suddenly, he will mock at the trial of the innocent.
ASVIf the scourge slay suddenly, He will mock at the trial of the innocent.
YLTIf a scourge doth put to death suddenly, At the trial of the innocent He laugheth.
DARBYIf the scourge kill suddenly, he mocketh at the trial of the innocent.
BBEIf death comes suddenly through disease, he makes sport of the fate of those who have done no wrong.
WebsterIf the scourge shall slay suddenly, he will laugh at the trial of the innocent.

What does Job 9:23 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
23. If--Rather, "While (His) scourge slays suddenly (the wicked, Job 9:22), He laughs at (disregards; not derides) the pining away of the innocent." The only difference, says Job, between the innocent and guilty is, the latter are slain by a sudden stroke, the former pine away gradually. The translation, "trial," does not express the antithesis to "slay suddenly," as "pining away" does [Umbreit].

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

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Job 9:22-24

Job touches briefly upon the main point now in dispute. His friends maintained that those who are righteous and good, always prosper in this world, and that none but the wicked are in misery and distress: he said, on the contrary, that it is a common thing for the wicked to prosper, and the righteous to be greatly afflicted. Yet there is too much passion in what Job here says, for God doth not afflict willingly…

Read the full comment on Job 9:22-24 →

Job 9:23 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.

אִם\־'i.mo.Sho-ifH518
שׁ֭וֹטShota scourgeH7752
יָמִ֣יתya.Mitit killsH4191
פִּתְאֹ֑םpit.'OmsuddenlyH6597
לְמַסַּ֖תle.ma.Sat<to> [the] despair ofH4531
נְקִיִּ֣םne.ki.Yiminnocent [ones]H5355
יִלְעָֽג\׃yil.'Aghe mocksH3932

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

Cross references for Job 9:23

  • Job 24:12

    Men groan from out of the city, and the soul of the wounded crieth out: yet God layeth not folly to them.

  • Hebrews 11:36-37

    And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented;

  • Ezekiel 14:19-21

    Or 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: Though Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, as I live, saith the Lord God, they shall deliver neither son nor daughter; they shall but deliver their own souls by their righteousness. For thus saith the Lord God; How much more when I send my four sore judgments upon Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and the noisome beast, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast?

  • Job 8:20

    Behold, God will not cast away a perfect man, neither will he help the evil doers:

  • Job 2:7

    So went Satan forth from the presence of the Lord, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown.

  • Psalms 44:22

    Yea, for thy sake are we killed all the day long; we are counted as sheep for the slaughter.

  • Job 1:13-19

    And there was a day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother’s house: And there came a messenger unto Job, and said, The oxen were plowing, and the asses feeding beside them: And the Sabeans fell upon them, and took them away; yea, they have slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee. While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, The fire of God is fallen from heaven, and hath burned up the sheep, and the servants, and consumed them; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee. …

  • 2 Samuel 14:15

    Now 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.

  • 2 Samuel 14:17

    Then 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 4:7

    Remember, I pray thee, who ever perished, being innocent? or where were the righteous cut off?

  • Ezekiel 21:13

    Because it is a trial, and what if the sword contemn even the rod? it shall be no more, saith the Lord God.

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

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
If the.
1:13-19; 2:7
he will.
4:7; 8:20; 2Sa 14:15,17; Ps 44:22; Eze 14:19-21; 21:13
Heb 11:36,37

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

Context

  • Job 9:22

    This is one thing, therefore I said it, He destroyeth the perfect and the wicked.

  • Job 9:23

    If the scourge slay suddenly, he will laugh at the trial of the innocent.

  • Job 9:24

    The earth is given into the hand of the wicked: he covereth the faces of the judges thereof; if not, where, and who is he?

Read all of Job 9

Job 9:23 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Si azote mata de presto, ríese de la prueba de los inocentes.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Si le fléau donne subitement la mort, il se rit de l’épreuve de l’innocent.
German
Elberfelder 1871		Wenn die Geißel plötzlich tötet, so spottet er der Prüfung der Unschuldigen.
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		Si flagellat, occidat semel, et non de pœnis innocentum rideat.