Job 16:11
in Job 16God has delivered me to unjust men; He has thrown me to the clutches of the wicked.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
God delivereth me to the ungodly, And casteth me into the hands of the wicked.
KJV
God hath delivered me to the ungodly, and turned me over into the hands of the wicked.
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This verse in Job 16
Commentary
9 notes on this verseThis site's exposition
His anger has torn me and opposed me
on Job 16:9-11
Job pictures God as a beast of prey who "gnashes His teeth at me", and "My adversary pierces me with His eyes" like a hunter. Delitzsch reads this as honest but partial sight, since the court of chapters 1 and 2 is hidden from Job.
This site's exposition
God has delivered me to unjust men
Barnes and Jamieson, Fausset and Brown take the unjust men to be the professed friends themselves. Barnes pictures a captive in their hands. Henry sees Christ here too, delivered into wicked hands by the counsel of God in Acts 2.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church2 voices
"God has given me up to an iniquitous angel." These words are said because it is believed that an angel accompanies each human being. Job calls his angel iniquitous because of the effects of Job's misfortunes that he observes, just as David calls the angel …
Lest anyone believe that Job was of the opinion that punishments of this kind were inflicted on him by God since he had said he had been afflicted by an enemy as he continues, "God has confined me with the wicked," i.e. the devil, by …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
13 ) and his rod to his own children, Isa. x. Herein also Job was a type of Christ, who was delivered into wicked hands, to be crucified and slain, by the determinate counsel and fore-knowledge of God, Acts ii. That God not only delivered him into the hands of the wicked, but took him into his own hands too, into which it is a fearful thing to fall (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-citation-number
God hath delivered me up to the ungodly,....
He still holds fast his integrity, concerning which he appeals to God's righteous judgment from the unrighteous censures of his friends,
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
the ungodly--namely, his professed friends, who persecuted him with unkind speeches. turned me over--literally, "cast me headlong into the hands of the wicked."
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
God hath delivered me - Margin “shut me up.” The meaning is, that God had committed him to their hands as a prisoner or captive. They had power over him to do as they pleased. To the ungodly - Into the hands of wicked people - meaning undoubtedly his professed friends. And turned me over - The word used here (from ירט yârat) means to throw head long, to precipitate, to cast down. Here it means, “he has thrown me headlong into the hands of the wicked.”
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
God delivers me to a fool The Holy One, blessed be He, delivered me to a fool, a scorner, a mocker, to be scornful of me.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 7 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
8 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| יַסְגִּירֵ֣נִי | yasgireni | he delivers up me | H5462 → | 91 times |
| אֵ֭ל | ʾel | God | H410 → | 241 times |
| אֶ֣ל | ʾel | to | H413 → | 5510 times |
| עֲוִ֑יל | ʾavil | an unjust one | H5760 → | |
| וְעַל־ | veal- | and on | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| יְדֵ֖י | yedei | [the] hands of | H3027 → | 1618 times |
| רְשָׁעִ֣ים | reshaim | wicked [people] | H7563 → | 263 times |
| יִרְטֵֽנִי׃ | yirteni | he casts me | H3399 → |
יַסְגִּירֵ֣נִיhe delivers up me
yasgireniH5462 →91 times
אֵ֭לGod
ʾelH410 →241 times
אֶ֣לto
ʾelH413 →5510 times
עֲוִ֑ילan unjust one
ʾavilH5760 →
וְעַל־and on
veal-H5921 →5755 times
יְדֵ֖י[the] hands of
yedeiH3027 →1618 times
רְשָׁעִ֣יםwicked [people]
reshaimH7563 →263 times
יִרְטֵֽנִי׃he casts me
yirteniH3399 →
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
Romans 11:32For God has consigned everyone to disobedience so that He may have mercy on everyone.
it leads to
- Galatians 3:22
But the Scripture pronounces all things confined by sin, so that by faith in Jesus Christ the promise might be given to those who believe.
- Galatians 3:22
Through
Psalms 7:14Behold, the wicked man travails with evil; he conceives trouble and births falsehood.
it leads to
- James 1:15
Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
- Job 15:35
They conceive trouble and give birth to evil; their womb is pregnant with deceit.”
- James 1:15
Through
Psalms 31:8You have not delivered me to the enemy; You have set my feet in the open.
it leads to
- Job 36:16
Indeed, He drew you from the jaws of distress to a spacious and broad place, to a table full of richness.
- Deuteronomy 32:30
How could one man pursue a thousand, or two put ten thousand to flight, unless their Rock had sold them, unless the LORD had given them up?
- Psalms 18:19
He brought me out into the open; He rescued me because He delighted in me.
- Job 36:16
Through
Psalms 27:12Do not hand me over to the will of my foes, for false witnesses rise up against me, breathing out violence.
it leads to
- Psalms 31:8
You have not delivered me to the enemy; You have set my feet in the open.
- Matthew 26:59–60
Now the chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were seeking false testimony against Jesus in order to put Him to death.
- Psalms 31:8
About Job
This page draws on 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); Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Book of Job; Ishodad of Merv, COMMENTARY ON JOB 16:11; 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.