Job 19:28

If you say, ‘Let us persecute him, since the root of the matter lies with him,’

Berean Standard Bible

Study note

Setting — Job speaks to his three friends who have shifted from comfort to accusation, placing this warning between his declaration of personal hope to see God and his final threat of divine judgment.

The words — The phrase שֹׁרֶשׁ דָּבָר (shoresh dabar) literally means "root of the matter," while the verb נִמְצָא (nimtza) translates to "it has been found" or "lies."

The thread — The pattern of unjust pursuit appears in Job 19:22, where Job asks why his friends persecute him as God does, and in Psalms 69:26, which records the persecution of the one God has struck.

Why it lands — The text states that the friends claim to have discovered a foundational cause for their hostility, and it requires the reader to test whether their accusations arise from verified evidence or from a predetermined conclusion.

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

כִּ֣יkiif תֹ֭אמְרוּTo.me.ruyou will say מַה־mah-what?נִּרְדָּף־nir.dof-will we persecuteל֑וֹl/o<to>/ himוְשֹׁ֥רֶשׁve./Sho.reshand/ [the] root of דָּ֝בָ֗רda.Var[the] matter נִמְצָא־nim.tza'-it has been foundבִֽי׃V/iin/ me

King James Version

But ye should say, Why persecute we him, seeing the root of the matter is found in me?

Cross-references

Job 19:22 Why do you persecute me as God does? Will you never get enough of my flesh?
1 Kings 14:13 All Israel will mourn for him and bury him. For this is the only one belonging to Jeroboam who will receive a proper burial, because only in him has the LORD, the God of Israel, found any good in the house of Jeroboam.
Psalms 69:26 For they persecute the one You struck and recount the pain of those You wounded.