Lectionary Calendar
Sunday, July 20th, 2025
the Week of Proper 11 / Ordinary 16
Attention!
Take your personal ministry to the Next Level by helping StudyLight build churches and supporting pastors in Uganda.
Click here to join the effort!

Read the Bible

Literal Standard Version

Job 16:13

His archers go around against me. He split my reins, and does not spare, || He pours out my gall to the earth.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Afflictions and Adversities;   Bow;   Gall;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Afflictions;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Gall;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Disease;   Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Greatness of God;   Hypocrisy;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Gall;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Job, the Book of;   Kidney;   Reins;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Games;   Job;   Kidneys;   Liver;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Gall;   Liver;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Gall;   Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types - Archer;   Compass;   Reins;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Asunder;   Gall;   Kidneys;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Medicine;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
his archers surround me.He pierces my kidneys without mercyand pours my bile on the ground.
Hebrew Names Version
His archers surround me. He splits my kidneys apart, and does not spare. He pours out my gall on the ground.
King James Version
His archers compass me round about, he cleaveth my reins asunder, and doth not spare; he poureth out my gall upon the ground.
English Standard Version
his archers surround me. He slashes open my kidneys and does not spare; he pours out my gall on the ground.
New Century Version
his archers surround me. He stabs my kidneys without mercy; he spills my blood on the ground.
New English Translation
his archers surround me. Without pity he pierces my kidneys and pours out my gall on the ground.
Amplified Bible
"His arrows surround me. He pierces my kidneys (vital organs) without mercy; He pours out my gall on the ground.
New American Standard Bible
"His arrows surround me. He splits my kidneys open without mercy; He pours out my bile on the ground.
World English Bible
His archers surround me. He splits my kidneys apart, and does not spare. He pours out my gall on the ground.
Geneva Bible (1587)
His archers compasse mee rounde about: he cutteth my reines, and doth not spare, & powreth my gall vpon the ground.
Legacy Standard Bible
His arrows surround me.Without mercy He splits my kidneys open;He pours out my gall on the ground.
Berean Standard Bible
His archers surround me. He pierces my kidneys without mercy and spills my gall on the ground.
Contemporary English Version
for his arrows, and without showing mercy, he slashed my stomach open, spilling out my insides.
Complete Jewish Bible
his archers surrounded me. He slashes my innards and shows no mercy, he pours my gall on the ground.
Darby Translation
His arrows encompass me round about, he cleaveth my reins asunder and doth not spare; he poureth out my gall upon the ground.
Easy-to-Read Version
With his archers all around me, he shoots arrows into my kidneys. He shows no mercy and spills my gall on the ground.
George Lamsa Translation
His arrows are round about me, he shoots at my kidneys and does not spare; he pours out my gall on the ground.
Good News Translation
and shoots arrows at me from every side— arrows that pierce and wound me; and even then he shows no pity.
Lexham English Bible
His archers surround me; he slashes open my kidneys, and he does not have compassion; he pours out my gall on the ground.
Literal Translation
His archers surround me; He splits my inward parts and has no pity; He pours out my gall on the ground.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
He hath compased me rounde aboute with his dartes, he hath wounded my loynes, & not spared. My bowels hath he poured vpon the grounde.
American Standard Version
His archers compass me round about; He cleaveth my reins asunder, and doth not spare; He poureth out my gall upon the ground.
Bible in Basic English
His bowmen come round about me; their arrows go through my body without mercy; my life is drained out on the earth.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
His archers compass me round about, He cleaveth my reins asunder, and doth not spare;
King James Version (1611)
His archers compasse me round about, he cleaueth my reines asunder, and doeth not spare; he powreth out my gall vpon the ground.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
His archers compasse me rounde about, he woundeth my raines, and doth not spare, my bowels hath he powred vpon the grounde.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
When I was at peace he distracted me: he took me by the hair of the head, and plucked it out: he set me up as a mark.
English Revised Version
His archers compass me round about, he cleaveth my reins asunder, and doth not spare; he poureth out my gall upon the ground.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
He hath cumpasside me with hise speris, he woundide togidere my leendis; he sparide not, and schedde out myn entrails in to the erthe.
Update Bible Version
His archers compass me round about; He splits my reins apart, and does not spare; He pours out my gall on the ground.
Webster's Bible Translation
His archers encompass me; he cleaveth my reins asunder, and doth not spare; he poureth out my gall upon the ground.
New King James Version
His archers surround me.He pierces my heart [fn] and does not pity;He pours out my gall on the ground.
New Living Translation
and now his archers surround me. His arrows pierce me without mercy. The ground is wet with my blood.
New Life Bible
His arrows are all around me. He cuts my kidneys open without pity. He pours the bitter insides on the ground.
New Revised Standard
his archers surround me. He slashes open my kidneys, and shows no mercy; he pours out my gall on the ground.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
His archers came round against me, He clave asunder my reins, and spared not, He poured out, on the earth, my gall:
Douay-Rheims Bible
(16-14) He hath compassed me round about with his lances, he hath wounded my loins, he hath not spared, and hath poured out my bowels on the earth,
Revised Standard Version
his archers surround me. He slashes open my kidneys, and does not spare; he pours out my gall on the ground.
Young's Literal Translation
Go round against me do his archers. He splitteth my reins, and spareth not, He poureth out to the earth my gall.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
"His arrows surround me. Without mercy He splits my kidneys open; He pours out my gall on the ground.

Contextual Overview

6If I speak, my pain is not restrained, || And I cease—what goes from me? 7Only, now, it has wearied me; You have desolated all my company, 8And You loathe me, || For it has been a witness, || And my failure rises up against me, || It testifies in my face. 9His anger has torn, and He hates me, || He has gnashed at me with His teeth, || My adversary sharpens His eyes for me. 10They have gaped on me with their mouth, || In reproach they have struck my cheeks, || Together they set themselves against me. 11God shuts me up to the perverse, || And turns me over to the hands of the wicked. 12I have been at ease, and He breaks me, || And He has laid hold on my neck, || And He breaks me in pieces, || And He raises me to Him for a mark. 13His archers go around against me. He split my reins, and does not spare, || He pours out my gall to the earth.14He breaks me—breach on breach, || He runs on me as a mighty one. 15I have sewed sackcloth on my skin, || And have rolled my horn in the dust.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

archers: Job 6:4, Genesis 49:23, Psalms 7:12, Psalms 7:13

he cleaveth: Job 19:27, Lamentations 3:13

doth: Job 6:10, Deuteronomy 29:20, Ezekiel 5:11, Romans 8:32, 2 Peter 2:5

poureth: Job 20:25, Lamentations 2:11

Reciprocal: Job 19:22 - persecute Job 34:6 - wound Psalms 21:12 - make Psalms 73:21 - in my Psalms 88:17 - They Lamentations 3:11 - pulled Lamentations 3:12 - bent

Cross-References

Genesis 16:1
And Sarai, Abram's wife, has not borne to him, and she has a handmaid, an Egyptian, and her name [is] Hagar;
Genesis 16:5
And Sarai says to Abram, "My violence [is] for you; I have given my handmaid into your bosom, and she sees that she has conceived, and I am lightly esteemed in her eyes; YHWH judges between me and you."
Genesis 16:7
And the Messenger of YHWH finds her by the fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way [to] Shur,
Genesis 16:9
And the Messenger of YHWH says to her, "Return to your mistress, and humble yourself under her hands";
Genesis 16:10
and the Messenger of YHWH says to her, "Multiplying I multiply your seed, and it is not numbered from multitude";
Genesis 16:12
and he is a wild-donkey man, his hand against everyone, and everyone's hand against him—and before the face of all his brothers he dwells."
Genesis 22:14
and Abraham calls the name of that place "YHWH-Jireh," because it is said this day in the mountain, "YHWH provides."
Genesis 28:17
and he fears and says, "How fearful [is] this place; this is nothing but a house of God, and this a gate of the heavens."
Genesis 31:42
unless the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the Fear of Isaac, had been for me, surely now you had sent me away empty; God has seen my affliction and the labor of my hands, and reproves last night."
Judges 6:24
And Gideon builds an altar to YHWH there, and calls it YHWH-Shalom, it [is] yet in Ophrah of the Abi-Ezrites to this day.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

His archers compass me round about,.... Satan and his principalities and powers casting their fiery darts at him; or rather, his friends shooting their arrows, even bitter words, reproaches, and calumnies; or the various diseases of his body, his boils and ulcers, which were so many arrows shot into him, in every part of him all around, and gave him exquisite pain and anguish; besides the arrows of the Almighty, or that painful sensation he had of the wrath of God. This also is true of Christ, the antitype of Job and of Joseph; of the latter of which it is said, "the archers sorely grieved him, and shot at him, but his bow abode in strength", Genesis 49:23; so Satan and his ministers threw their fiery darts at Christ when on the cross, and the scribes and priests, his emissaries, surrounded him there, and shot out their reproachful and blasphemous words at him, and the justice of God smote him, and the law of God cast its curses on him. Gussetius renders the words, "his great ones" g; and such Job's friends were, men of great substance, and lived in great credit and honour; some have supposed them to be kings, and such were those that opposed Christ, and distressed him, the rulers of the people, civil and ecclesiastic:

he cleaveth my reins asunder; by causing his arrows to enter into them, Lamentations 3:13; the consequence of which must be death; a man cannot live, at least long, after this is his case; though some think this is to be understood of the disorder of the stone in his reins or kidneys, which was very distressing to him:

and doth not spare; shows no mercy or pity, though in such sad circumstances and dreadful agonies; thus God spared not his own son, Romans 8:32;

he poureth out my gall upon the ground; which is done by piercing the gall bladder with the sword, or any such instrument, see Job 20:25; which must issue in death; and the design of both these clauses is to show, that Job looked upon his case irretrievable, and he here makes use of hyperbolical expressions to set it forth by.

g "Ejus magnates", Comment. Ebr. p. 773. רביו "ejus magni", Montanus.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

His archers - He does not come alone to shoot at me; he has employed a company of bowmen, who also direct “their” arrows against me. The word used here רב rab means properly “much, large,” great; and is applied to that which is powerful or mighty. It is nowhere else used in the sense of “archers,” and might be rendered “his many;” that is, his bands, hosts, or armies. But as all the ancient versions render it “arrows,” or “archers,” probably that sense is to be retained. Allusion is here made to those who claimed to be the friends of Job, but who now showed to his apprehension that they were merely sharp-shooters under the control of God, to deepen his woes.

He cleaveth my reins asunder - With his arrows. They penetrate quite through me.

He poureth out my gall - The word “gall” means the “bile” - the yellowish green bitter fluid secreted in the liver. A similar figure occcurs in Lamentations 2:11, “My liver is poured upon the earth.” Among the pagan poets, also, the “liver” is represented as pierced, and as pouring out gore. Thus, Aesch. Agam. 442: θιγγάνει πρὸς ἧπαρ thinganei pros hēpar. So also 801: Δῆγμα λύπης ἐφ ̓ ἧπαρ προσικνεἴται Dēgma lupēs eph' hēpar prosikneitai. So in the Iliad, xiii. 412, xx. 469, 470. The meaning here is, “I am transfixed with a deadly wound, and must die. God has come upon me as an armed man, and has pierced my vitals.”

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Job 16:13. His archers compass me — רביו rabbaiv "his great ones." The Vulgate and Septuagint translate this his spears; the Syriac, Arabic, and Chaldee, his arrows. On this and the following verse Mr. Heath observes: "The metaphor is here taken from huntsmen: first, they surround the beast; then he is shot dead; his entrails are next taken out; and then his body is broken up limb by limb."


 
adsfree-icon
Ads FreeProfile