Job 13:1–13:12, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
Job 13:1–13:12
Job Calls the Friends Worthless Physicians
Job claims the same eyes and ears, then asks to speak with God rather than with them
Lo, mine eye hath seen all this, mine ear hath heard and understood it. What ye know, the same do I know also: I am not inferior unto you. Surely I would speak to the Almighty, and I desire to reason with God. But ye are forgers of lies, ye are all physicians of no value. O that ye would altogether hold your peace! and it should be your wisdom.
Partial advocacy for God is warned that it will not survive examination
Hear now my reasoning, and hearken to the pleadings of my lips. Will ye speak wickedly for God? and talk deceitfully for him? Will ye accept his person? will ye contend for God? Is it good that he should search you out? or as one man mocketh another, do ye so mock him? He will surely reprove you, if ye do secretly accept persons. Shall not his excellency make you afraid? and his dread fall upon you? Your remembrances are like unto ashes, your bodies to bodies of clay.
Invented accusations in God's defense are condemned here. The passage does not reject all counsel, medicine, theology, or careful correction. It rejects worthless physicians who lie for the patient they claim to serve.
How this should shape us
Do not manufacture a charge in order to protect God. Silence is wiser than deceitful advocacy, and a sufferer is not healed by a physician who falsifies the case.
Teach it back
Explain Job 13:1–13:12 in your own words. Name the speaker, the unit's place in Job, one source-controlled textual or literary observation, one uncertainty, and one harmful use the passage does not authorize.
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Go deeper
The explanation above is meant to stand on its own. Open these notes only if you want language, history, disagreements, or source locations.
Research trail and exact locationsThe source record behind this section
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete thought-unit coverage.
Job 13:1–13:12, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology checked at the exact unit without treating morphology as a complete apparatus or interpretation.
Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Job.xml, OSIS 13:1–13:12
Supports: Verse-level controls for Job's difficult Hebrew, syntax, older KJV language, textual issues, speech boundaries, and alternatives in Job 13:1–13:12.
Official NET Job PDF, exact translator, study, and textual notes attached to Job 13:1–13:12
Supports: Book-level and passage-level literary, historical, theological, and pastoral synthesis with speaker distinctions and visible uncertainty.
Enter the Bible Job course, Outline and passage studies: lament and first dialogue cycle; applied to Job 13:1–13:12
Supports: A fully inspected critical alternative on the framework, litigation, human condition, divine speeches, and moral evaluation.
Harvey, 'Questions on the Book of Job,' Religious Studies 59.S1 (2023), pp. S7-S16, God vs Job (Job 13:15-24) and its lead-up; applied to Job 13:1–13:12
Sources for This Section
These records identify the source, the claim it supports, and the exact location used. A source remains evidence to evaluate; it does not replace the biblical text.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete thought-unit coverage.
Exact location: Job 13:1–13:12, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Job
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology checked at the exact unit without treating morphology as a complete apparatus or interpretation.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Job.xml, OSIS 13:1–13:12
Open the fixed Hebrew Job file ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible First Edition Notes: Job
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006; current official PDF
Supports: Verse-level controls for Job's difficult Hebrew, syntax, older KJV language, textual issues, speech boundaries, and alternatives in Job 13:1–13:12.
Exact location: Official NET Job PDF, exact translator, study, and textual notes attached to Job 13:1–13:12
Open the official NET Job PDF ↗modern scholarly book course
Job course: summary, outline, background, introductory issues, theological themes, and Bible in the world
Daniel J. Simundson and Kathryn Schifferdecker
Enter the Bible, Luther Seminary, current online edition inspected 2026
Supports: Book-level and passage-level literary, historical, theological, and pastoral synthesis with speaker distinctions and visible uncertainty.
Exact location: Enter the Bible Job course, Outline and passage studies: lament and first dialogue cycle; applied to Job 13:1–13:12
Open the Enter the Bible Job course ↗open access philosophical and literary article
Questions on the Book of Job
Warren Zev Harvey
Religious Studies 59, Special Issue S1, 2023
Supports: A fully inspected critical alternative on the framework, litigation, human condition, divine speeches, and moral evaluation.
Exact location: Harvey, 'Questions on the Book of Job,' Religious Studies 59.S1 (2023), pp. S7-S16, God vs Job (Job 13:15-24) and its lead-up; applied to Job 13:1–13:12
Open the Cambridge Job article ↗