Job 23 9

Job 23:9 kjv

On the left hand, where he doth work, but I cannot behold him: he hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him:

Job 23:9 nkjv

When He works on the left hand, I cannot behold Him; When He turns to the right hand, I cannot see Him.

Job 23:9 niv

When he is at work in the north, I do not see him; when he turns to the south, I catch no glimpse of him.

Job 23:9 esv

on the left hand when he is working, I do not behold him; he turns to the right hand, but I do not see him.

Job 23:9 nlt

I do not see him in the north, for he is hidden.
I look to the south, but he is concealed.

Job 23 verses

Job 23 9 Meaning

Job 23:9 encapsulates Job's profound despair and spiritual anguish as he seeks to comprehend and engage with God. He describes searching for God in every direction of His activity and power, represented by the "left hand" where God "works" and the "right hand" where God is often associated with strength or blessing. Yet, in all these pursuits, Job finds God elusive, hidden, and beyond his perception or understanding. This verse portrays the agonizing experience of a righteous man who earnestly seeks God's presence and explanation for his suffering but encounters only divine silence and incomprehensibility.

Job 23 9 Context

Job 23:9 is situated within Job's third monologue (chapters 23-24), a pivotal section where Job shifts from directly responding to his friends' accusations to speaking directly to God, albeit an unresponding one. Throughout the Book of Job, Job grapples with the disparity between his righteous living and his immense suffering, which contradicts the conventional understanding of divine justice prevalent at the time (that suffering directly results from sin). In chapter 23, Job expresses a deep longing to present his case before God, confident in his own righteousness. However, he is repeatedly frustrated by God's apparent inaccessibility and silence. This verse specifically articulates Job's despair over God's hiddenness, despite his diligent search for understanding and explanation of his plight. He searches in every imaginable direction, seeking to perceive God's actions and presence, yet God remains utterly elusive, emphasizing His transcendence and sovereign independence from human expectation.

Job 23 9 Word analysis

• On the left hand (בְּשְׂמֹ֣אל, b'semol):

  • Word Level: Refers literally to "to the left." In ancient Hebrew thought, with a focus on facing east, the left often denoted the north, a direction from which judgments or calamities could come (Jer 1:14). It also generally refers to a side or direction.
  • Significance: Job is diligently searching for God's presence, extending his search to one common spatial orientation, indicating a comprehensive, though futile, search.
  • Context: Implies Job has turned his gaze in one specific direction where he expects God might be found or operating.

• where He doth work (יַעֲשֶׂה֙, ya'aseh):

  • Word Level: From the verb עָשָׂה ('asah), meaning "to do," "to make," "to act," "to accomplish." It signifies God's active involvement, whether in creation, providence, or judgment.
  • Significance: Job recognizes that God is actively engaged in the world, influencing events, perhaps even his suffering. His torment is not from random chance but from God's activity, yet this activity remains incomprehensible.
  • Context: Job is trying to grasp the logic behind God's work, particularly as it relates to his suffering, but the logic remains hidden.

• but I cannot behold Him (וְלֹא־אָבִ֔ין, w'lo-avin):

  • Word Level: אָבִין ('avin) derives from בִּין (bin), meaning "to discern," "to understand," "to perceive," "to consider." It’s a deeper word than just "seeing"; it implies cognitive comprehension.
  • Significance: Job isn't merely unable to visually see God; he is unable to comprehend or make sense of God's actions or presence. This emphasizes his intellectual and spiritual bewilderment. He can't 'read' God.
  • Context: Job feels blind to God's purpose and rationale for his suffering. His search for God is not just physical sight, but an intellectual quest for understanding.

• He hideth himself on the right hand (וְיַעֲטֹ֥ף יָמִ֣ין, w'ya'atof yamin):

  • Word Level: עָטַף ('ataf) means "to be faint," "to cover," "to veil," or "to conceal oneself." יָמִ֣ין (yamin) means "right hand," a direction often associated with strength, favor, blessing, power, and judgment.
  • Significance: God is not merely absent; He is deliberately concealed or veiling Himself. This implies sovereign choice on God's part. Even in the sphere of His greatest power or blessing (the "right hand"), Job cannot perceive Him. It intensifies the sense of divine mystery.
  • Context: Job searches where God's active power and blessing might be most evident, but instead finds a God who deliberately withdraws His visibility or comprehensibility.

• that I cannot see Him (וְלֹא־אֶרְאֶֽנּוּ, w'lo-er'ennu):

  • Word Level: אֶרְאֶנּוּ (er'ennu) from רָאָה (ra'ah), meaning "to see," "to look," "to behold." This refers to direct physical or visual perception.
  • Significance: Despite Job's intense spiritual searching and longing, a fundamental inability to perceive God directly persists. This highlights the profound chasm between the Creator and creature, particularly in the face of suffering and misunderstanding.
  • Context: This reinforces Job's deep frustration; the ultimate outcome of his tireless quest is failure to obtain a clear revelation.

Job 23 9 Bonus section

• Job's experience foreshadows the ultimate mystery of divine revelation, where God is both immanent (active in the world) and transcendent (beyond human grasp). This tension often leads to faith's deepest challenges and growth.
• The human impulse to seek patterns, causes, and effects in suffering, as Job does, is confronted by God's sovereign freedom to act without immediate human explanation or logic.
• This verse contributes to the Book of Job's profound dismantling of a simplistic cause-and-effect theology, where all suffering is directly attributable to sin, revealing a God whose governance operates on a deeper, often unrevealed, level.
• Job's relentless seeking, even in the face of non-perception, underscores the enduring human desire for a relationship with God and understanding of His purpose. His lament, though born of suffering, is itself an act of engagement with the divine.

Job 23 9 Commentary

Job 23:9 lays bare Job’s relentless, yet futile, pursuit of God amidst his profound suffering. He metaphorically scans every direction of God’s perceived activity and presence – from the "left hand" where God works to the "right hand" associated with power – but encounters only divine hiddenness. This verse does not imply God’s literal absence, but His transcendent incomprehensibility. God’s ways, even when He is actively at work, remain beyond Job’s, and indeed, humanity's, grasp. The Hebrew words for "behold" (bin) and "see" (ra'ah) emphasize both intellectual and perceptual inability, signifying Job’s spiritual blindness to God’s overarching plan. The poignant image of God deliberately "hiding Himself" underlines the theological concept of Deus Absconditus (Hidden God), a God who retains His sovereignty and mystery, allowing human experience to be a walk of faith rather than constant comprehension. Job's anguished search for understanding in suffering is a timeless human cry, meeting a God whose wisdom and ways are often unsearchable.