Job 16 11

Job 16:11 kjv

God hath delivered me to the ungodly, and turned me over into the hands of the wicked.

Job 16:11 nkjv

God has delivered me to the ungodly, And turned me over to the hands of the wicked.

Job 16:11 niv

God has turned me over to the ungodly and thrown me into the clutches of the wicked.

Job 16:11 esv

God gives me up to the ungodly and casts me into the hands of the wicked.

Job 16:11 nlt

God has handed me over to sinners.
He has tossed me into the hands of the wicked.

Job 16 verses

Job 16 11 Meaning

Job 16:11 articulates Job's profound sense of abandonment and betrayal, wherein he perceives God Himself as the orchestrator of his suffering. He laments that the Almighty has delivered him into the hands of unjust and wicked people, rather than offering protection or solace. This is not merely a complaint against human adversaries, but a deep theological struggle where Job believes his pain directly stems from God's deliberate act of giving him over to affliction and tormentors.

Job 16 11 Context

Job 16 is part of Job's deeply emotional and desperate reply to his friend Eliphaz, who has just delivered a scathing indictment of Job (Job 15). Job's friends continue to insist that his immense suffering must be a direct result of hidden sin, upholding the traditional retribution theology of their time. In this chapter, Job articulates his profound weariness and sorrow at their "miserable comfort." He wishes he could comfort them if they were in his shoes (16:4-5), but feels God has unjustly become his adversary. He feels God has violently attacked him, torn him apart, and is using wicked individuals as instruments of this divine torment. Verse 11 encapsulates his ultimate despair: he views his trials not as external misfortunes but as directly orchestrated or allowed by God, Who hands him over to malevolent forces, blurring the line between divine agency and human malice in his mind.

Job 16 11 Word analysis

• God delivers me:
  • Hebrew: יַסְגִּירֵנִי (yasgirēni)
  • From the root סָגַר (sagar), meaning "to shut up, to close," but in this construct, "to deliver over, surrender."
  • Significance: This isn't just about God allowing things to happen; Job perceives God actively performing the act of handing him over. The language implies an intentional and volitional transfer, making God directly responsible for Job's suffering in his perspective. It is a powerful statement of perceived divine abandonment.
• to the ungodly / to wicked men:
  • Hebrew: אֶל־יְדֵי־עַוָּל (ʾel-yədê-ʿawwāl)
  • Meaning: "into the hands of a wicked/unjust person" or "into the power of a wrongdoer."
  • Significance: Job sees his suffering coming through the instrumentality of "wicked" people or the forces of "injustice" that represent them. This could refer to Satan (though Job is not aware of Satan's role, only of God's allowance), to actual human adversaries who plot against him (though the narrative doesn't detail them here), or more broadly to the crushing and inexplicable adversity itself, personified as a wicked hand.
• and casts me:
  • Hebrew: יַטּוּנִי (yaṭṭuni)
  • From the root נָטָה (natah), meaning "to stretch out, incline, bend, turn aside, cast down."
  • Significance: This verb reinforces the previous idea, adding a sense of force, abandonment, or being overthrown. It's not a gentle leading, but a decisive, perhaps violent, act of casting someone aside. This again highlights Job's perception of God as his direct assailant.
• into the hands of the wicked:
  • Hebrew: וְעַל יְדֵי רְשָׁעִים (wəʿal yədê rəšāʿîm)
  • Meaning: "and upon the hands of the wicked ones/guilty ones."
  • Significance: This phrase is a parallel construction, reinforcing and intensifying the previous one. The word רְשָׁעִים (rəšāʿîm) emphasizes outright guilt, criminality, and moral depravity. The double reference to "hands of the wicked" emphasizes that Job feels completely at the mercy of malevolent forces, all facilitated, in his view, by God.

Words-group by words-group analysis:

• "God delivers me to the ungodly": This phrase vividly expresses Job's deep theological confusion and anguish. He is wrestling with the nature of a just God who appears to act unjustly. It challenges the conventional understanding that God only brings good or punishes explicit sin. Job cannot reconcile his blamelessness with what he perceives as divine cruelty, believing God actively gave him over to hostile forces.
• "and casts me into the hands of the wicked": This parallelism amplifies Job's complaint. It conveys not merely a lack of divine protection, but an active, even forceful, abandonment by God into oppressive control. This profound feeling of betrayal by the very source of life and justice defines the essence of Job's struggle. His friends attribute his suffering to his own actions, but Job sees it as an act of God, employing wickedness as His instrument.

Job 16 11 Bonus section

Job's perception in this verse, while distressing, is a crucial part of his purification and deepened understanding. He vocalizes a perspective that many righteous sufferers share – the feeling that God is "against" them or has "abandoned" them. This human cry is deeply understood and validated in scripture through laments like those in the Psalms and ultimately in Christ's cry on the cross. Although Job's conclusion that God delivers him to the wicked is his distraught interpretation, the fact remains that God did allow Satan's hand. The divine boundary on suffering (Satan cannot go beyond what God permits, Job 1:12, 2:6) confirms God's ultimate control, even when it appears that evil has free rein. This apparent paradox is resolved not by dismissing Job's pain, but by recognizing God's higher purposes often concealed during trials.

Job 16 11 Commentary

Job 16:11 represents the zenith of Job's raw, agonizing honesty before God. He sees the divine hand not merely permitting his suffering but actively "delivering" him and "casting" him into the power of destructive forces, be they literal human adversaries or the overarching calamity orchestrated by Satan. This verse is not an objective statement of fact but a heartfelt expression of Job's felt reality amidst unfathomable pain and confusion. It challenges conventional theological frameworks that offer simplistic answers to suffering. Job's perception here, though understandable from a human perspective, stands in stark contrast to God's actual intent revealed later in the book and in the wider biblical narrative (e.g., Job 1-2). God, while sovereign, did not directly cause Job's evil, but permitted it for His divine purposes, including proving Job's integrity and deepening his understanding of the divine. The verse underlines the deep mystery of innocent suffering and how it forces believers to wrestle with their understanding of God's character and providence, often perceiving divine actions far differently than they truly are. It highlights the agony of the righteous who feel God has become their adversary.