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Journey of a Passage

Job 19:25–27

"I know that my redeemer liveth"

Hebrew: "I know my go'el lives, and at the last he will stand upon the dust; and after my skin has been struck off, from (or without) my flesh I shall see God." The library's Greek speaks of one "eternal" who will "raise up my skin"; the Vulgate has "on the last day I shall rise from the earth… and in my flesh I shall see my God." The KJV adds "worms" and "body."

Same letters, different readings: the consonants agree, but ancient readers vocalized or interpreted them differently

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 it · ✕ does not · ❝ quotes part of it · ⓘ reports on manuscripts · ▢ 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
  1. Aramaic Targum of Job (11Q10)1st century BC – 1st century ADTranslated from a Hebrew text of Job
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. 1st century BC – 1st century AD

    Aramaic Targum of Job (11Q10)

    – No copy survivesTranslated from a Hebrew text of Job

    Reported not to preserve 19:25–27 (the scroll is damaged in this area).

    Source: Israel Antiquities Authority, Leon Levy Dead Sea Scrolls Digital Library, 11Q10 (11QtgJob), image B-285219 ↗; F. García Martínez and E. J. C. Tigchelaar, The Dead Sea Scrolls Study Edition (Brill, 1997–98)

  3. 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).

    Scio enim quod redemptor meus vivit, et in novissimo die de terra surrecturus sum: et rursum circumdabor pelle mea, et in carne mea videbo Deum meum: quem visurus sum ego ipse, et oculi mei conspecturi sunt, et non alius: reposita est hæc spes mea in sinu meo.

  4. 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.

    וַאֲנִ֣י יָ֭דַעְתִּי גֹּ֣אֲלִי חָ֑י וְ֝אַחֲר֗וֹן עַל־עָפָ֥ר יָקֽוּם׃ וְאַחַ֣ר ע֭וֹרִֽי נִקְּפוּ־זֹ֑את וּ֝מִבְּשָׂרִ֗י אֶֽחֱזֶ֥ה אֱלֽוֹהַּ׃ אֲשֶׁ֤ר אֲנִ֨י ׀ אֶֽחֱזֶה־לִּ֗י וְעֵינַ֣י רָא֣וּ וְלֹא־זָ֑ר כָּל֖וּ כִלְיֹתַ֣י בְּחֵקִֽי׃

  5. 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).

    For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me.

  6. 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.

    Car je sais qu’il est éternel Celui qui doit être mon libérateur sur cette terre, Et faire revivre ma peau qui éprouvera ces choses; car c’est le Seigneur qui a disposé pour moi toutes ces choses Dont j’ai conscience en moi-même, que mon œil a vues, et non l’œil d’un autre, et qui déjà sont accomplies en mon sein.

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

What changed, and why

Each phrase is ambiguous: who the go'el is; whether "at the last" means the end of time; whether "from my flesh" means in the body or apart from it. The Greek and Latin moved the passage toward resurrection; Christian tradition reads it of Christ. The Aramaic Targum (11Q10) is reported not to preserve these verses.

What the evidence shows

  • DisputedThe Hebrew of 19:25–27 explicitly states bodily resurrection.
  • Independently documentedThe Vulgate makes Job the one who rises on the last day.

Sources

    Related lessons

    • I Know That My Redeemer Liveth →Job says his friends have insulted him ten times. God has fenced his way and stripped his glory. His brothers, acquaintances, relatives, guests, servants, his wife and even young children reject him; he has escaped "with the skin of my teeth." He wishes his words were carved in rock with an iron pen and lead. Then: "I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth," and he will see God. Each phrase of 19:25–27 can be translated several ways.
    • 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.