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Journey of a Passage

Job 16:19

A witness in heaven

"Also now, behold, my witness is in heaven, and my record is on high." The Hebrew pairs 'edi ("my witness") with sahadi, the Aramaic word for the same thing. The versions agree on the sense.

Stable text: no manuscript differences in meaning

The family tree

Each row is a language or text tradition. Witnesses in the same row may share ancestry, revise one another, or have an uncertain relationship; the line under each box says which. A solid arrow appears only where direct copying or a documented revised edition is established. Order by date never implies copying. Scroll sideways on a phone.

✓ contains this verse · ▢ pages lost · – no copy survives

  • Same line, through lost copies
  • Translation
Hebrew
  1. Original JobPoem often dated 6th–4th century BC (debated)
  2. Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)AD 1008Descends, through lost copies, from Original Job
Aramaic
    Greek and its daughters
    1. Greek Job, filled-out text (library: Giguet's French)Printed Septuagint; translated 1872Translated from the Greek text as filled out after Origen
    Latin
    1. Jerome's Vulgatec. AD 390s, from HebrewTranslated from Hebrew texts of Jerome's day
    English
    1. King James Bible1611Translated from printed Masoretic Hebrew

    Every witness, in order

    1. Poem often dated 6th–4th century BC (debated)

      Original Job

      – No copy survives

      No original survives. Small Hebrew fragments of Job are known from Qumran (2Q15, 4Q99–101).

    2. c. AD 390s, from Hebrew

      Jerome's Vulgate

      ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from Hebrew texts of Jerome's day

      How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Clementine Vulgate (1592 edition).

      ecce enim in cælo testis meus, et conscius meus in excelsis.

      Vulgate verse 16:20.

    3. AD 1008

      Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)

      ✓ Contains this passageDescends, through lost copies, from Original Job

      How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex.

      גַּם־עַ֭תָּה הִנֵּה־בַשָּׁמַ֣יִם עֵדִ֑י וְ֝שָׂהֲדִ֗י בַּמְּרוֹמִֽים׃

    4. 1611

      King James Bible

      ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from printed Masoretic Hebrew

      How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: King James Version (1769 text).

      Also now, behold, my witness is in heaven, and my record is on high.

    5. Printed Septuagint; translated 1872

      Greek Job, filled-out text (library: Giguet's French)

      ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from the Greek text as filled out after Origen

      How the site knows this: Known here only through a translation.

      Et maintenant voilà que mon témoin est dans le ciel; le confident de mes pensées est au plus haut des cieux.

      Greek via Giguet's French (filled-out printed text); not checked against Ziegler's critical edition. Its verse 16:20.

    What changed, and why

    Who the witness is (God, an advocate, Job's own cry) is debated; the line anticipates the redeemer of 19:25. See the investigation "Job's Lawsuit Against God."

    What the evidence shows

    • Independently documentedSahadi is an Aramaic word.
    • DisputedThe identity of the witness is certain.

    Sources

      Related lessons

      • My Witness Is in Heaven →Job calls his friends miserable comforters. He could talk like them if they were in his place. He describes God's attack: tearing him in wrath, handing him to the ungodly, setting him up as a target, breaking him breach upon breach. He has sewn sackcloth on his skin. Yet he cries: "O earth, cover not thou my blood… my witness is in heaven, and my record is on high," and longs for one who would plead for a man with God.
      • Investigation: Job's Lawsuit Against God →Job's speeches use the language of an ancient lawsuit: contend, case, answer, be in the right, summon, witness, indictment. He wishes for an arbiter (9:33), prepares his case (13:18), appeals to a witness in heaven (16:19), asks God to stand surety for him (17:3), declares that his redeemer lives (19:25), seeks God's judgment seat (23:3) and signs his oath demanding a written charge (31:35). God answers (38:1) but turns the courtroom into a cosmos. The verdict (42:7) goes to Job.