Job 13:24

Wherefore hidest thou thy face, and holdest me for thine enemy?

King James Version · Read in your translation · Open the Explore console

Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
hidest	תַסְתִּ֑יר tas.Tir	H5641	to hide (by covering) · verb, hiphil imperfect, 2nd person masculine singular
face	פָנֶ֥יךָ fa.Nei.kha	H6440	the face (as the part that turns) · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
holdest	וְתַחְשְׁבֵ֖נִי ve.tach.she.Ve.ni	H2803	properly · conjunction + verb, qal, 2nd person masculine singular + pronominal suffix
enemy	לְאוֹיֵ֣ב le.'o.Yev	H341	hating · preposition + verb, qal active participle, masculine singular absolute

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Job 19:11 He hath also kindled his wrath against me, and he counteth me unto him as one of his enemies.
Psalms 13:1 How long wilt thou forget me, O LORD? for ever? how long wilt thou hide thy face from me?
Lamentations 2:5 The Lord was as an enemy: he hath swallowed up Israel, he hath swallowed up all her palaces: he hath destroyed his strong holds, and hath in…
Deuteronomy 32:20 And he said, I will hide my face from them, I will see what their end shall be: for they are a very froward generation, children in whom is…
Job 33:10 Behold, he findeth occasions against me, he counteth me for his enemy,
Psalms 44:24 Wherefore hidest thou thy face, and forgettest our affliction and our oppression?
Psalms 88:14 LORD, why castest thou off my soul? why hidest thou thy face from me?
Isaiah 8:17 And I will wait upon the LORD, that hideth his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him.

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Job 13:23–end

Here, I. Job enquires after his sins, and begs to have them discovered to him. He looks up to God, and asks him what was the number of them (How many are my iniquities?) and what were the particulars of them: Make me to know my transgressions, Job 13:23. His friends were ready enough to tell him how numerous and how heinous they were, Job 22:5. "But, Lord," says he, "let me know them from thee; for thy judgment is according to truth, theirs is not." This may be taken either, 1. As a passionate complaint of hard usage, that he was punished for his faults and yet was not told what his faults were. Or, 2. As a prudent appeal to God from the censures of his friends. He desired that all his sins…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Job 13:24

hidest . . . face--a figure from the gloomy impression caused by the sudden clouding over of the sun. enemy--God treated Job as an enemy who must be robbed of power by ceaseless sufferings (Job 7:17, Job 7:21).

John Gill on Job 13:24

Wherefore hidest thou thy face,.... Not from his cry, because of his sore and grievous afflictions, as Bar Tzemach; nor from helping and saving him from his troubles, as Sephorno; nor from looking on his right ways, as Jarchi; but from his person, withdrawing the manifestation of his face and favour; withholding the discoveries of his love; and denying him the light of his countenance, and sensible communion with him, and enjoyment of him, he had been indulged with; Job formerly had seen the face of God, enjoyed his presence, and walked in fellowship with him; but now he had withdrawn himself from him, and he knew not where to find him; see Job 23:2; a greater blessing cannot be had than the…

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Keil & Delitzsch on Job 13:23-25

23 How many are mine iniquities and sins? Make me to know my transgression and sin! - - 24 Wherefore dost Thou hide Thy face, And regard me as Thine enemy? 25 Wilt Thou frighten away a leaf driven to and fro, And pursue the dry stubble? When עון and חטּאת, פּשׁע and חטּאת, are used in close connection, the latter, which describes sin as failing and error, signifies sins of weakness (infirmities, Schwachheitssnde); whereas עון (prop. distorting or bending) signifies misdeed, and פשׁע (prop. breaking loose, or away from, Arab. fsq) wickedness which designedly estranges itself from God and removes from favour, both therefore malignant sin (Bosheitssnde). (Note: Comp. the development of the ide…

The Church Fathers

"Why do you believe me rebelling against you? I am so weak 1 Do you believe that my justification makes me your equal, who am like the leaf? So there is another hidden cause of your anger, for it is not this one.
— Augustine of Hippo, ANNOTATIONS ON THE BOOK OF JOB (tr. J. Litteral, draft)

Wherefore hidest Thou Thy face, and holdest me for Thine enemy? Man enjoyed the light of inward contemplation in Paradise, but by gratifying himself as he departed from himself, he lost the light of the Creator, and fled from His face to the trees of Paradise, seeing that, after his sin, he dreaded to see Him, whom he had used to love. But mark, after sin he is brought into punishment, but from punishment he returns to love, because he finds out what was the consequence of his transgression, and that face, which he feared in sin, being awakened to a right sense, he seeks afresh by punishment, that he may henceforth flee the darkness of his blind condition, and shrink with horror from this alone, that he does not behold his Creator. Pierced with which longing the holy man exclaims, Wherefore hidest Thou Thy face, and takest me for Thine enemy? 'since, if Thou didst regard me as a friend, Thou wouldest not deprive me of the light of Thy vision.' And going on, he adds the fickleness of the human heart.
— Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book XI

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Affliction, Prayer Under · That we may know the causes of our trouble — That we may know the causes of our trouble
Reasoning · With God — With God

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

Job 13:24

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Job 13:23–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Job 13:24

John Gill on Job 13:24

Keil & Delitzsch on Job 13:23-25

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Job 13:24

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Job 13:23–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Job 13:24

John Gill on Job 13:24

Keil & Delitzsch on Job 13:23-25

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Job 13:24

Rashi on Job 13:24