Lectionary Calendar
Thursday, August 21st, 2025
the Week of Proper 15 / Ordinary 20
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Read the Bible

Bible in Basic English

Job 4:15

And a breath was moving over my face; the hair of my flesh became stiff:

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Angel (a Spirit);   Dream;   Faith;   Vision;   Thompson Chain Reference - Hair;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Visions;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Trance;   Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Greatness of God;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Spirit;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Prophet;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Holy Spirit;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Job;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Apparition;   Smith Bible Dictionary - El'iphaz;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Hair;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Revelation;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
I felt a draft on my face,and the hair on my body stood up.
Hebrew Names Version
Then a spirit passed before my face; The hair of my flesh stood up.
King James Version
Then a spirit passed before my face; the hair of my flesh stood up:
English Standard Version
A spirit glided past my face; the hair of my flesh stood up.
New Century Version
A spirit glided past my face, and the hair on my body stood on end.
New English Translation
Then a breath of air passes by my face; it makes the hair of my flesh stand up.
Amplified Bible
"Then a spirit passed before my face; The hair on my skin stood on end!
New American Standard Bible
"Then a spirit passed by my face; The hair of my flesh stood up.
World English Bible
Then a spirit passed before my face; The hair of my flesh stood up.
Geneva Bible (1587)
And the wind passed before me, and made the heares of my flesh to stande vp.
Legacy Standard Bible
Then a spirit swept by my face;The hair of my flesh bristled up.
Berean Standard Bible
Then a spirit glided past my face, and the hair on my body bristled.
Contemporary English Version
and my hair stood on end, as a wind blew past my face.
Complete Jewish Bible
Then a spirit passed in front of my face; the hair of my flesh stood on end.
Darby Translation
And a spirit passed before my face—the hair of my flesh stood up—
Easy-to-Read Version
A spirit passed by my face. The hair on my body stood up!
George Lamsa Translation
Then a spirit passed before my face; the hair of my flesh stood up:
Good News Translation
A light breeze touched my face, and my skin crawled with fright.
Lexham English Bible
And a spirit glided before my face; the hair of my flesh bristled.
Literal Translation
Then a spirit passed before my face; the hair of my flesh stood up;
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
And when the wynde passed ouer by me, the hayres of my flesh stode vp.
American Standard Version
Then a spirit passed before my face; The hair of my flesh stood up.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
The winde passed by before my presence, and made the heeres of my fleshe to stande vp.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
Then a spirit passed before my face, that made the hair of my flesh to stand up.
King James Version (1611)
Then a spirit passed before my face: the haire of my flesh stood vp.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And a spirit came before my face; and my hair and flesh quivered.
English Revised Version
Then a spirit passed before my face; the hair of my flesh stood up.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And whanne the spirit `yede in my presence, the heiris of `my fleisch hadden hidousnesse.
Update Bible Version
Then a spirit passed before my face; The hair of my flesh stood up.
Webster's Bible Translation
Then a spirit passed before my face; the hair of my flesh stood up:
New King James Version
Then a spirit passed before my face; The hair on my body stood up.
New Living Translation
A spirit swept past my face, and my hair stood on end.
New Life Bible
A spirit passed by my face. The hair of my flesh stood up.
New Revised Standard
A spirit glided past my face; the hair of my flesh bristled.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Then, a spirit, over my face, floated along, The hair of my flesh bristled-up:
Douay-Rheims Bible
And when a spirit passed before me, the hair of my flesh stood up.
Revised Standard Version
A spirit glided past my face; the hair of my flesh stood up.
Young's Literal Translation
And a spirit before my face doth pass, Stand up doth the hair of my flesh;
New American Standard Bible (1995)
"Then a spirit passed by my face; The hair of my flesh bristled up.

Contextual Overview

12 A word was given to me secretly, and the low sound of it came to my ears. 13 In troubled thoughts from visions of the night, when deep sleep comes on men, 14 Fear came on me and shaking, and my bones were full of trouble; 15 And a breath was moving over my face; the hair of my flesh became stiff: 16 Something was present before me, but I was not able to see it clearly; there was a form before my eyes: a quiet voice came to my ears, saying: 17 May a man be upright before God? or a man be clean before his Maker? 18 Truly, he puts no faith in his servants, and he sees error in his angels; 19 How much more those living in houses of earth, whose bases are in the dust! They are crushed more quickly than an insect; 20 Between morning and evening they are completely broken; they come to an end for ever, and no one takes note. 21 If their tent-cord is pulled up, do they not come to an end, and without wisdom?

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

a spirit: Psalms 104:4, Matthew 14:26, Luke 24:37-39, Hebrews 1:7, Hebrews 1:14

the hair: Isaiah 13:8, Isaiah 21:3, Isaiah 21:4, Daniel 5:6

Reciprocal: Luke 1:12 - he Acts 10:3 - saw

Cross-References

Genesis 4:24
If seven lives are to be taken as punishment for Cain's death, seventy-seven will be taken for Lamech's.
Leviticus 26:18
And if, even after these things, you will not give ear to me, then I will send you punishment seven times more for your sins.
Leviticus 26:21
And if you still go against me and will not give ear to me, I will put seven times more punishments on you because of your sins.
Leviticus 26:24
Then I will go against you, and I will give you punishment, I myself, seven times for all your sins.
Leviticus 26:28
Then my wrath will be burning against you, and I will give you punishment, I myself, seven times for your sins.
1 Kings 16:7
And the Lord sent his word against Baasha and his family by the mouth of the prophet Jehu, the son of Hanani, because of all the evil he did in the eyes of the Lord, moving him to wrath by the work of his hands, because he was like the family of Jeroboam, and because he put it to death.
Psalms 59:11
Put them not to death, for so my people will keep the memory of them: let them be sent in all directions by your power; make them low, O Lord our saviour.
Psalms 79:12
And give punishment seven times over into the breast of our neighbours for the bitter words which they have said against you, O Lord.
Proverbs 6:31
But if he is taken in the act he will have to give back seven times as much, giving up all his property which is in his house.
Ezekiel 9:4
The Lord said to him, Go through the town, through the middle of Jerusalem, and put a mark on the brows of the men who are sorrowing and crying for all the disgusting things which are done in it.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Then a spirit passed before my face,.... Which some interpret of a wind q, a blustering wind, that blew strong in his face; and so the Targum renders it, a stormy wind, such an one as Elijah perceived when the Lord spoke to him, though he was not in that, 1 Kings 19:11; or such a whirlwind, out of which the Lord spake to Job, Job 38:1; or rather, as Jarchi, an angel, an immaterial spirit, one of Jehovah's ministering spirits, clothed in an human form, and which passed and repassed before Eliphaz, that he might take notice of it:

the hair of my flesh stood up; erect, through surprise and dread; which is sometimes the case, when anything astonishing and terrible is beheld; the blood at such times making its way to the heart, for the preservation of that, leaves the external members of the body cold, and the skin of the flesh, in which the hair is, being contracted by the impetuous influx of the nervous fluid, causes the hair to stand upright, particularly the hair of the head, like the prickles or hedgehogs r; which has been usual at the sight of an apparition s.

q רוח "ventus", Vatablus, Cocceius, Schmidt, Broughton. r "Obstupui, steteruntque comae----". Virgil. Aeneid. l. 2. ver. 774. & l. 3. ver. 48. "arrectaeque horrore comae". Aeneid. 4. ver. 286. & l. 12. ver. 888. s Vid. Scheuchzer. Physic. Sacr. p. 665.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Then a spirit passed before my face - He does not intimate whether it was the spirit of a man, or an angel who thus appeared. The belief in such apparitions was common in the early ages, and indeed has prevailed at all times. No one can demonstrate that God could not communicate his will in such a manner as this, or by a messenger deputed from his immediate presence to impart valuable truth to people.

The hair of my flesh stood up - This is an effect which is known often to be produced by fear. Sometimes the hair is made to turn white almost in an instant, as an effect of sudden alarm; but usually the effect is to make it stand on end. Seneca uses language remarkably similar to this in describing the effect of fear, in Hercule Oetoeo:

Vagus per artus errat excussos tremor;

Erectus horret crinis. Impulsis adhuc

Star terror animis. et cor attonitum salit,

Pavidumque trepidis palpitat venis jecur.

So Virgil,

Steteruntque comae, et vox faucibus haesit.

Aeneid ii. 774.

See also Aeneid iii. 48, iv. 289. So also Aeneid xii. 868:

Arrectaeque horrore comae.

A similar description of the effect of fear is given in the Ghost’s speech to Hamlet:

“But that I am forbid

To tell the secrets of my prison-house,

I could a tale unfold, whose lightest word

Would harrow up thy soul, freeze thy young blood.

Make thy two eyes like stars, start from their spheres,

Thy knotty and combined locks to part,

And each particular hair to stand on end,

Like quills upon the fretful porcupine.”

The fact here referred to - that fear or fright; causes the hair to stand on end - is too well established, and too common to admit a doubt. The cause may be, that sudden fear has the effect to drive the blood to the heart, as the seat of vitality, and the extremities are left cold, and the skin thus contracts, and the effect is to raise the hair.


 
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