Know now that God hath overthrown me, and hath compassed me with his net.
Job 19 is Job's answer to Bildad in the debate between Job and his friends about his afflictions, an answer in which he appeals for pity. The verse stands with chapters 17 and 18 in the midst of chapters 8-27, where his friends press constant accusations, open and implied, and Job answers them. That section ends in the middle of Job's last reply after his friends cease troubling him, so the accusations and the responses belong to be read together. In this setting the verse raises the problem of suffering under God's providence: Job is being disciplined through affliction, but his friends wrongly insist that his suffering proves he has sinned.
Job speaks here from limited human wisdom and observation while afflicted. Knowing his own integrity yet unable to understand God's dealings with him, he concludes that God has overthrown him and caught him in a net, but he does not charge God foolishly. His suffering does not mean he is under God's displeasure nor give cause for discouragement, for God chastens those He loves and even Jesus the Son of God was the prince of sufferers. God saw the end from the beginning and was working through Job's trial to glorify Himself forever, to give comfort and hope to thousands of suffering ones afterward, and to bring blessing to Job himself.
The chapter containing the verse includes prophecies of Christ. It is also part of Job's account that the wicked may prosper in this life but face punishment in the future.
Job 19 is Job's answer to Bildad in the debate between Job and his friends about his afflictions, an answer in which he appeals for pity. The verse stands with chapters 17 and 18 in the midst of chapters 8-27, where his friends press constant accusations, open and implied, and Job answers them. That section ends in the middle of Job's last reply after his friends cease troubling him, so the accusations and the responses belong to be read together. In this setting the verse raises the problem of suffering under God's providence: Job is being disciplined through affliction, but his friends wrongly insist that his suffering proves he has sinned.
Job speaks here from limited human wisdom and observation while afflicted. Knowing his own integrity yet unable to understand God's dealings with him, he concludes that God has overthrown him and caught him in a net, but he does not charge God foolishly. His suffering does not mean he is under God's displeasure nor give cause for discouragement, for God chastens those He loves and even Jesus the Son of God was the prince of sufferers. God saw the end from the beginning and was working through Job's trial to glorify Himself forever, to give comfort and hope to thousands of suffering ones afterward, and to bring blessing to Job himself.
The chapter containing the verse includes prophecies of Christ. It is also part of Job's account that the wicked may prosper in this life but face punishment in the future.