The Meaning of Job 19:26 Explained

Job 19:26

KJV: And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God:

YLT: And after my skin hath compassed this body, Then from my flesh I see God:

Darby: And if after my skin this shall be destroyed, yet from out of my flesh shall I see +God;

ASV: And after my skin, even this body , is destroyed, Then without my flesh shall I see God;

KJV Reverse Interlinear

And [though] after  my skin  [worms] destroy  this [body], yet in my flesh  shall I see  God: 

What does Job 19:26 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 19:26 mean?

And after my skin is destroyed this [I know] that in my flesh I shall see God
וְאַחַ֣ר ע֭וֹרִֽי נִקְּפוּ־ זֹ֑את וּ֝מִבְּשָׂרִ֗י אֶֽחֱזֶ֥ה אֱלֽוֹהַּ

וְאַחַ֣ר  And  after 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Preposition
Root: אַחַר 
Sense: after the following part, behind (of place), hinder, afterwards (of time).
ע֭וֹרִֽי  my  skin 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular construct, first person common singular
Root: עֹור  
Sense: skin, hide.
נִקְּפוּ־  is  destroyed 
Parse: Verb, Piel, Perfect, third person common plural
Root: נָקַף 
Sense: to strike, strike off.
זֹ֑את  this  [I  know] 
Parse: Pronoun, feminine singular
Root: זׄאת  
Sense: this, this one, here, which, this … that, the one … the other, such.
וּ֝מִבְּשָׂרִ֗י  that  in  my  flesh 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Preposition-m, Noun, masculine singular construct, first person common singular
Root: בָּשָׂר  
Sense: flesh.
אֶֽחֱזֶ֥ה  I  shall  see 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Imperfect, first person common singular
Root: חָזָה  
Sense: to see, perceive, look, behold, prophesy, provide.
אֱלֽוֹהַּ  God 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular
Root: אֱלֹוהַּ  
Sense: God.