Bible Strands
Job 13:19
Can anyone indict me? If so, I will be silent and die.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Job addresses his three friends and God after declaring his case is prepared and his vindication certain. He stands at the moment of demanding divine response while refusing to conceal himself from the Almighty.
The words — The verb יָרִיב (ya.Riv) literally means "will he conduct a case" or "will he contend," framing the accusation as a legal proceeding. The phrase אַחֲרִישׁ וְאֶגְוָע ('a.cha.Rish ve.'eg.Va) translates directly to "I will keep silent and expire," pairing speechlessness with death.
The thread — This legal posture connects to Job 7:11, where Job refuses to restrain his mouth, and Isaiah 50:7, where the speaker stands firm because the Lord helps him. The sequence of preparing a case and demanding direct audience with God runs through Job 13:18 and Job 13:20.
Why it lands — The text forces a reader to confront the weight of unanswerable accusation and the choice to accept death rather than compromise. It asks the reader to stop seeking human validation and instead stand exposed before God with unvarnished truth.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Who is he that will plead with me? for now, if I hold my tongue, I shall give up the ghost.
Cross-references
- Isaiah 50:7 Because the Lord GOD helps Me, I have not been disgraced; therefore I have set My face like flint, and I know that I will not be put to shame.
- Job 7:11 Therefore I will not restrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.
- Job 10:8 Your hands shaped me and altogether formed me. Would You now turn and destroy me?
- Job 13:13 Be silent, and I will speak. Then let come to me what may.
- Job 19:5 If indeed you would exalt yourselves above me and use my disgrace against me,
- Job 33:5 Refute me if you can; prepare your case and confront me.
- Job 33:32 But if you have something to say, answer me; speak up, for I would like to vindicate you.
- Jeremiah 20:9 If I say, “I will not mention Him or speak any more in His name,” His message becomes a fire burning in my heart, shut up in my bones, and I become weary of holding it in, and I cannot prevail.
- Romans 8:33 Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.