Bible Strands
Job 19:20
My skin and flesh cling to my bones; I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Job addresses his companions while experiencing acute physical wasting and total relational abandonment. He voices this condition immediately after noting that his closest friends have despised him and turned against him.
The words — The idiom בְּ/עוֹר שִׁנָּֽ/י (be./'or shi.Na/i) literally renders "with the skin of my teeth." It follows דָּבְקָ֣ה (da.ve.Kah), meaning "it clings," to describe how his flesh and skin adhere to his bones.
The thread — The imagery of skin clinging to bones appears in Psalms 102:5, Lamentations 4:8, and Job 33:19. These passages similarly document extreme physical wasting and bodily distress.
Why it lands — The text demands acknowledgment of Job's physical extremity and his desperate reliance on minimal survival. It requires the reader to confront the reality of severe affliction without attributing immediate theological resolution.
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
My bone cleaveth to my skin and to my flesh, and I am escaped with the skin of my teeth.
Cross-references
- Psalms 102:5 Through my loud groaning my skin hangs on my bones.
- Lamentations 4:8 But now their appearance is blacker than soot; they are not recognized in the streets. Their skin has shriveled on their bones; it has become as dry as a stick.
- Job 33:19 A man is also chastened on his bed with pain and constant distress in his bones,
- Job 2:4 “Skin for skin!” Satan replied. “A man will give up all he owns in exchange for his life.
- Job 7:5 My flesh is clothed with worms and encrusted with dirt; my skin is cracked and festering.
- Job 30:30 My skin grows black and peels, and my bones burn with fever.
- Psalms 22:14 I am poured out like water, and all my bones are disjointed. My heart is like wax; it melts away within me.
- Psalms 32:3 When I kept silent, my bones became brittle from my groaning all day long.
- Psalms 38:3 There is no soundness in my body because of Your anger; there is no rest in my bones because of my sin.
- Psalms 102:3 For my days vanish like smoke, and my bones burn like glowing embers.