The Meaning of Job 19:20 Explained

Job 19:20

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

YLT: To my skin and to my flesh Cleaved hath my bone, And I deliver myself with the skin of my teeth.

Darby: My bones cleave to my skin and to my flesh, and I am escaped with the skin of my teeth.

ASV: My bone cleaveth to my skin and to my flesh, And I am escaped with the skin of my teeth.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

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

What does Job 19:20 Mean?

Context Summary

Job 19:1-29 - "i Know That My Redeemer Liveth"
In Job's melancholy condition his friends seemed only to add vexation and trial. The hirelings who sojourned in his household looked on him with disdain; his kith and kin were alienated; it seemed as if the Almighty had an antipathy against him. So great was his physical suffering that the only sound part of his body seemed to be the skin of his gums and his teeth, Job 19:20 (that is, all he could do was to speak). Then he suddenly breaks into the majestic utterance of Job 19:25-26.
Among the Bedouins the institution of the goel-or kinsman representative-still exists for the avenging of wrong done to a kinsman: and Job believed that his divine Goel would one day stand on the earth for his vindication. Yes, and more, he felt that somehow he, too, would arise from the very grave to hear that vindication spoken by those just and true lips. Above all, he would see God Himself standing with him-whom I"¦ shall see, on my side, Job 19:27, r.v. [source]

Chapter Summary: 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

What do the individual words in Job 19:20 mean?

To my skin and to my flesh clings My bone and I have escaped by the skin of my teeth
בְּעוֹרִ֣י וּ֭בִבְשָׂרִי דָּבְקָ֣ה עַצְמִ֑י וָ֝אֶתְמַלְּטָ֗ה בְּע֣וֹר שִׁנָּֽי

בְּעוֹרִ֣י  To  my  skin 
Parse: Preposition-b, Noun, masculine singular construct, first person common singular
Root: עֹור  
Sense: skin, hide.
וּ֭בִבְשָׂרִי  and  to  my  flesh 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Preposition-b, Noun, masculine singular construct, first person common singular
Root: בָּשָׂר  
Sense: flesh.
דָּבְקָ֣ה  clings 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Perfect, third person feminine singular
Root: דָּבַק  
Sense: to cling, stick, stay close, cleave, keep close, stick to, stick with, follow closely, join to, overtake, catch.
עַצְמִ֑י  My  bone 
Parse: Noun, feminine singular construct, first person common singular
Root: עֶצֶם 
Sense: bone, essence, substance.
וָ֝אֶתְמַלְּטָ֗ה  and  I  have  escaped 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Verb, Hitpael, Consecutive imperfect, first person common singular, third person feminine singular
Root: מָלַט 
Sense: to slip away, escape, deliver, save, be delivered.
בְּע֣וֹר  by  the  skin 
Parse: Preposition-b, Noun, masculine singular construct
Root: עֹור  
Sense: skin, hide.
שִׁנָּֽי  of  my  teeth 
Parse: Noun, cdc, first person common singular
Root: שֵׁן  
Sense: tooth, ivory.