Job 19:20
New International Version
I am nothing but skin and bones; I have escaped only by the skin of my teeth.

New Living Translation
I have been reduced to skin and bones and have escaped death by the skin of my teeth.

English Standard Version
My bones stick to my skin and to my flesh, and I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.

Berean Standard Bible
My skin and flesh cling to my bones; I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.

King James Bible
My bone cleaveth to my skin and to my flesh, and I am escaped with the skin of my teeth.

New King James Version
My bone clings to my skin and to my flesh, And I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.

New American Standard Bible
“My bone clings to my skin and my flesh, And I have escaped only by the skin of my teeth.

NASB 1995
“My bone clings to my skin and my flesh, And I have escaped only by the skin of my teeth.

NASB 1977
“My bone clings to my skin and my flesh, And I have escaped only by the skin of my teeth.

Legacy Standard Bible
My bone clings to my skin and my flesh, And I have escaped only by the skin of my teeth.

Amplified Bible
“My bone clings to my skin and to my flesh, And I have escaped [death] by the skin of my teeth.

Christian Standard Bible
My skin and my flesh cling to my bones; I have escaped with only the skin of my teeth.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
My skin and my flesh cling to my bones; I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.

American Standard Version
My bone cleaveth to my skin and to my flesh, And I am escaped with the skin of my teeth.

Contemporary English Version
I am skin and bones--just barely alive.

English Revised Version
My bone cleaveth to my skin and to my flesh, and I am escaped with the skin of my teeth.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
I am skin and bones, and I have escaped only by the skin of my teeth.

Good News Translation
My skin hangs loose on my bones; I have barely escaped with my life.

International Standard Version
I'm a pile of skin and bones; I have barely escaped by the skin of my teeth."

Majority Standard Bible
My skin and flesh cling to my bones; I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.

NET Bible
My bones stick to my skin and my flesh; I have escaped alive with only the skin of my teeth.

New Heart English Bible
My bones stick to my skin and to my flesh. I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.

Webster's Bible Translation
My bone cleaveth to my skin and to my flesh, and I have escaped with the skin of my teeth.

World English Bible
My bones stick to my skin and to my flesh. I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.
Literal Translations
Literal Standard Version
To my skin and to my flesh "" My bone has cleaved, "" And I deliver myself with the skin of my teeth.

Young's Literal Translation
To my skin and to my flesh Cleaved hath my bone, And I deliver myself with the skin of my teeth.

Smith's Literal Translation
My bone cleaved to my skin and to my flesh, and I shall escape with the skin of my teeth.
Catholic Translations
Douay-Rheims Bible
The flesh being consumed. My bone hath cleaved to my skin, and nothing but lips are left about my teeth.

Catholic Public Domain Version
Since my flesh has been consumed, my bone adheres to my skin, and only my lips have been left around my teeth.

New American Bible
My bones cling to my skin, and I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.

New Revised Standard Version
My bones cling to my skin and to my flesh, and I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.
Translations from Aramaic
Lamsa Bible
My skin and my flesh cleave to my bones, and I am escaped with the skin of my teeth.

Peshitta Holy Bible Translated
My skin and my flesh is stuck on my bones and I have escaped by the skin of my teeth
OT Translations
JPS Tanakh 1917
My bone cleaveth to my skin and to my flesh, And I am escaped with the skin of my teeth.

Brenton Septuagint Translation
My flesh is corrupt under my skin, and my bones are held in my teeth.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Job: My Redeemer Lives
19All my best friends despise me, and those I love have turned against me. 20My skin and flesh cling to my bones; I have escaped by the skin of my teeth. 21Have pity on me, my friends, have pity, for the hand of God has struck me.…

Cross References
Psalm 102:5
Through my loud groaning my skin hangs on my bones.

Lamentations 4:8
But now their appearance is blacker than soot; they are not recognized in the streets. Their skin has shriveled on their bones; it has become as dry as a stick.

Lamentations 4:9
Those slain by the sword are better off than those who die of hunger, who waste away, pierced with pain because the fields lack produce.

Psalm 22:17
I can count all my bones; they stare and gloat over me.

Psalm 22:14-15
I am poured out like water, and all my bones are disjointed. My heart is like wax; it melts away within me. / My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth. You lay me in the dust of death.

Isaiah 38:12-13
My dwelling has been picked up and removed from me like a shepherd’s tent. I have rolled up my life like a weaver; He cuts me off from the loom; from day until night You make an end of me. / I composed myself until the morning. Like a lion He breaks all my bones; from day until night You make an end of me.

Jeremiah 20:18
Why did I come out of the womb to see only trouble and sorrow, and to end my days in shame?

Psalm 6:2
Be merciful to me, O LORD, for I am frail; heal me, O LORD, for my bones are in agony.

Psalm 31:9-10
Be merciful to me, O LORD, for I am in distress; my eyes fail from sorrow, my soul and body as well. / For my life is consumed with grief and my years with groaning; my iniquity has drained my strength, and my bones are wasting away.

Isaiah 53:3-4
He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. Like one from whom men hide their faces, He was despised, and we esteemed Him not. / Surely He took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows; yet we considered Him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted.

Matthew 8:17
This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: “He took up our infirmities and carried our diseases.”

1 Peter 2:24
He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. “By His stripes you are healed.”

2 Corinthians 4:16
Therefore we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, yet our inner self is being renewed day by day.

2 Corinthians 5:1-4
For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is dismantled, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. / For in this tent we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, / because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. ...

Romans 8:23
Not only that, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.


Treasury of Scripture

My bone sticks to my skin and to my flesh, and I am escaped with the skin of my teeth.

bone

Job 30:30
My skin is black upon me, and my bones are burned with heat.

Job 33:19-22
He is chastened also with pain upon his bed, and the multitude of his bones with strong pain: …

Psalm 22:14-17
I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint: my heart is like wax; it is melted in the midst of my bowels…

and to.

Amos 2:4-6
Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Judah, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have despised the law of the LORD, and have not kept his commandments, and their lies caused them to err, after the which their fathers have walked: …

Amos 7:5
Then said I, O Lord GOD, cease, I beseech thee: by whom shall Jacob arise? for he is small.

Lamentations 3:4
My flesh and my skin hath he made old; he hath broken my bones.

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Job 19
1. Job, complaining of his friends' cruelty,
6. shows there is misery enough in him to feed their cruelty
21. He craves pity
23. He believes the resurrection














I am nothing but skin and bones
This phrase captures the physical and emotional desolation of Job. The Hebrew word for "skin" is "עור" (or), and "bones" is "עצם" (etsem). In the ancient Near Eastern context, these terms emphasize the frailty and vulnerability of human life. Job's description of himself as "nothing but skin and bones" underscores his extreme suffering and the stripping away of all his earthly comforts and health. It is a vivid portrayal of his physical deterioration, which mirrors his spiritual and emotional anguish. This imagery serves as a powerful reminder of the transient nature of human life and the profound trials that can strip away all but the essence of our being.

I have escaped by the skin of my teeth
The phrase "skin of my teeth" is unique and enigmatic, with the Hebrew "עור שׁני" (or sheni) suggesting a narrow escape from death. This expression is not found elsewhere in the Bible, highlighting its distinctiveness in conveying Job's precarious situation. Historically, this phrase has been interpreted to mean a very narrow escape, as teeth do not have skin, indicating something that is barely possible. Job's use of this metaphor reflects his perception of having barely survived his trials, clinging to life by the thinnest of margins. It speaks to the intensity of his suffering and the miraculous nature of his endurance, serving as an inspiration for believers to hold onto faith even when deliverance seems impossible.

(20) My bone cleaveth to my skin and to my flesh in one indistinguishable mass, and I have escaped with the skin of my teeth, because the teeth have no skin, or, as others explain, because the teeth have fallen out. This expression, which is by no means clear in the context, has passed into a proverb expressive of a very narrow escape--a meaning which can only by inference be obtained from this place in Job.

Verse 20. - My bone cleaveth to my skin and to my flesh. Here the third source of Job's misery is brought forward - his painful and incurable disease. This has brought him to such a pitch of emaciation that his bones seem to adhere to the tightened skin, and the scanty and shrunken muscles, that cover them (comp. Job 33:21 and Lamentations 4:8). Such emaciation of the general frame is quite compatible with the unsightly swelling of certain parts of the body which characterizes elephantiasis. And I am escaped with the skin of my teeth. The expression is, no doubt, proverbial, and signifies "barely escaped;" but its origin is obscure.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
My skin
בְּעוֹרִ֣י (bə·‘ō·w·rî)
Preposition-b | Noun - masculine singular construct | first person common singular
Strong's 5785: Skin, hide, leather

and flesh
וּ֭בִבְשָׂרִי (ū·ḇiḇ·śā·rî)
Conjunctive waw, Preposition-b | Noun - masculine singular construct | first person common singular
Strong's 1320: Flesh, body, person, the pudenda of a, man

cling
דָּבְקָ֣ה (dā·ḇə·qāh)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person feminine singular
Strong's 1692: To impinge, cling, adhere, to catch by pursuit

to my bones;
עַצְמִ֑י (‘aṣ·mî)
Noun - feminine singular construct | first person common singular
Strong's 6106: A bone, the body, the substance, selfsame

I have escaped
וָ֝אֶתְמַלְּטָ֗ה (wā·’eṯ·mal·lə·ṭāh)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Hitpael - Consecutive imperfect - first person common singular | third person feminine singular
Strong's 4422: To be smooth, to escape, to release, rescue, to bring forth young, emit sparks

by the skin
בְּע֣וֹר (bə·‘ō·wr)
Preposition-b | Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 5785: Skin, hide, leather

of my teeth.
שִׁנָּֽי׃ (šin·nāy)
Noun - cdc | first person common singular
Strong's 8127: A tooth, ivory, a cliff


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OT Poetry: Job 19:20 My bones stick to my skin (Jb)
Job 19:19
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