Job 23:1–23:7, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
Job 23:1–23:7
Job Longs to Find God's Court
Job wants a court, not Eliphaz's altar
Job answers that his complaint is still bitter; his stroke is heavier than his groaning. He does not take Eliphaz's catalogue. He wants to know where he might find God, that he might come to his seat, order his cause before him, and fill his mouth with arguments.
He imagines knowing the words God would answer and understanding what God would say. An upright person, he thinks, could reason with God and be delivered forever from his judge. The hope is legal: a hearing where evidence can be set in order.
Confidence here is contested, not cheap
Job is not claiming that every sufferer gets a visible verdict in this life. He is claiming that if the court could be reached, integrity would not be a joke there. The longing itself is faith under protest: God is the one he cannot find and the one he still wants to face.
The friends offered return as if the case were already closed against Job. Job wants the case opened.
How this should shape us
When someone asks for a fair hearing, do not replace the request with a call to settle. You may not be able to summon God's court. You can refuse to close a life by speculation.
Teach it back
Explain Job 23:1–23:7 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
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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 23:1–23:7, 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 23:1–23:7
Supports: Verse-level controls for Job's difficult Hebrew, syntax, older KJV language, textual issues, speech boundaries, and alternatives in Job 23:1–23:7.
Official NET Job PDF, exact translator, study, and textual notes attached to Job 23:1–23:7
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: third-cycle breakdown; applied to Job 23:1–23:7
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, framework-versus-dialogue argument and Job's litigation; applied to Job 23:1–23:7
Sources for This Section
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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 23:1–23:7, 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 23:1–23:7
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 23:1–23:7.
Exact location: Official NET Job PDF, exact translator, study, and textual notes attached to Job 23:1–23:7
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: third-cycle breakdown; applied to Job 23:1–23:7
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, framework-versus-dialogue argument and Job's litigation; applied to Job 23:1–23:7
Open the Cambridge Job article ↗