Verse Lens · Context pointer
Job 9:19 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 19. 19If I speak of strength, lo, he is strong: and if of judgment, who shall set me a time to plead?
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Role in This Section
Job 9:19 advances the thought unit with the words “If I speak of strength, lo, he is strong: and if of judgment, who shall set me a….” Job presses the unit's question through “If I speak of strength, lo, he is strong”, a line that belongs to Job Says Innocence Cannot Secure a Hearing.
Read It With
- Job 9:14–9:21
Read Job 9:19 with 9:14–9:21. Read alone, “If I speak of strength, lo, he is strong: and if of judgment, who shall set me a…” could lose its speaker, the question or claim it develops, and the unit's outcome. The complete movement establishes: Job imagines pleading before his judge yet expects not to be heard, and says that even integrity cannot protect him from self-doubt under overwhelming force.
Why It Needs Context
Job 9:19 depends on 9:14–9:21; isolating “If I speak of strength, lo, he is strong: and if of judgment, who shall set me a…” would detach a poetic premise, image, response, or transition from Job and “Job Says Innocence Cannot Secure a Hearing.”
Read Job 9:14–21 together
Why these verses belong together: Job 9:14–9:21 follows the pinned KJV paragraphing and holds together one sustained speech movement: “Job Says Innocence Cannot Secure a Hearing.” The next unit begins with a new stanza, question sequence, scene, speaker response, or rhetorical turn.
Verse 14. 14 How much less shall I answer him, and choose out my words to reason with him?
Verse 15. 15 Whom, though I were righteous, yet would I not answer, but I would make supplication to my judge.
Verse 16. 16 If I had called, and he had answered me; yet would I not believe that he had hearkened unto my voice.
Verse 17. 17 For he breaketh me with a tempest, and multiplieth my wounds without cause.
Verse 18. 18 He will not suffer me to take my breath, but filleth me with bitterness.
Verse 19. 19 If I speak of strength, lo, he is strong: and if of judgment, who shall set me a time to plead?
Verse 20. 20 If I justify myself, mine own mouth shall condemn me: if I say, I am perfect, it shall also prove me perverse.
Verse 21. 21 Though I were perfect, yet would I not know my soul: I would despise my life.
Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Job 9:14–9:21 — Job Says Innocence Cannot Secure a HearingSources used for this context pointer
How certain is this explanation? strong
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
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 9:14–9:21, 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 9:14–9:21
Open the fixed Hebrew Job file ↗