Job 13:24
in Job 13Why do You hide Your face and consider me as Your enemy?
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Wherefore hidest thou thy face, And holdest me for thine enemy?
KJV
Wherefore hidest thou thy face, and holdest me for thine enemy?
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This verse in Job 13
Commentary
10 notes on this verseWherefore 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.
This site's exposition
How many are my iniquities and sins
on Job 13:23-25
"Reveal to me my transgression and sin" is the demand the chapter built toward, a bill of particulars in place of the friends' general charge. "Would You frighten a windblown leaf" pictures the disproportion the friends never weighed, the Almighty's strength against so weak a man.
This site's exposition
Why do You hide Your face
To hide the face is a sign of displeasure, Barnes notes, as at Isaiah 1:15. Job asks why God would consider him an enemy, and Clarke hears the cry of a man treated as the worst of sinners. Gregory recalls Adam hiding from the face of God.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
Then, as though the one to whom he had given the part of the opponent were silent, Job himself assumes the part of the objector and asks about the causes of his punishment. First, since someone could object that God punished him as his enemy, …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
2 What ye know, the same do I know also: I am not inferior unto you. 3 Surely I would speak to the Almighty, and I desire to reason with God. 4 But ye are forgers of lies, ye are all physicians of no value.
quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — verbatim-scripture
Job, by asking here, Why hidest thou thy face? teaches us that, when at any time we are under the sense of God's withdrawings, we are concerned to enquire into the reason of them--what is the sin for which he corrects us and what the good he designs us. Job's sufferings were typical of the sufferings of Christ, from whom not only men hid their faces ( Isa. liii.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
Wherefore hidest thou thy face,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
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, 21).
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
Wherefore hidest thou thy face - Why is it that I no longer enjoy thy approbation? Holdest me for thine enemy? - Treatest me as if I were the vilest of sinners?
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Wherefore hidest thou thy face - To hide the face, or to turn it away, is expressive of disapprobation. We turn away the face when we are offended with anyone. See the notes at Isa 1:15. And holdest me for thine enemy - Regardest and treatest me as an enemy.
The words behind it
6 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| לָֽמָּה־ | lamah- | <to> why? | H4100 → | 752 times |
| פָנֶ֥יךָ | faneikha | face your | H6440 → | 2123 times |
| תַסְתִּ֑יר | tastir | do you hide | H5641 → | 80 times |
| וְתַחְשְׁבֵ֖נִי | vetachsheveni | and do you consider? me | H2803 → | 124 times |
| לְאוֹיֵ֣ב | leoyev | to an enemy | H341 → | 282 times |
| לָֽךְ׃ | lakh | of you |
לָֽמָּה־<to> why?
lamah-H4100 →752 times
פָנֶ֥יךָface your
faneikhaH6440 →2123 times
תַסְתִּ֑ירdo you hide
tastirH5641 →80 times
וְתַחְשְׁבֵ֖נִיand do you consider? me
vetachsheveniH2803 →124 times
לְאוֹיֵ֣בto an enemy
leoyevH341 →282 times
לָֽךְ׃of you
lakh
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Isaiah 8:17I will wait for the LORD, who is hiding His face from the house of Jacob. I will put my trust in Him.
it leads to
- Hebrews 10:36–39
You need to persevere, so that after you have done the will of God, you will receive what He has promised.
- Habakkuk 2:3
For the vision awaits an appointed time; it testifies of the end and does not lie. Though it lingers, wait for it, since it will surely come and will not delay.
- Isaiah 25:9
And in that day it will be said, “Surely this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He has saved us. This is the LORD for whom we have waited. Let us…
- Lamentations 3:25–26
The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him.
- Psalms 33:20
Our soul waits for the LORD; He is our help and our shield.
- Hebrews 10:36–39
Through
Psalms 13:1How long, O LORD? Will You forget me forever? How long will You hide Your face from me?
it leads to
- Lamentations 5:20
Why have You forgotten us forever? Why have You forsaken us for so long?
- Psalms 89:46
How long, O LORD? Will You hide Yourself forever? Will Your wrath keep burning like fire?
- Psalms 94:3–4
How long will the wicked, O LORD, how long will the wicked exult?
- Lamentations 5:20
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Job
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book XI; Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.