Job's gōʾēl is the kinsman who steps in for a relative: the one who buys back, avenges, or defends. Christian tradition has heard in these verses the risen Redeemer and the resurrection of the body, a reading the Latin Vulgate makes explicit, beyond what the Hebrew requires; Rashi and the 1970 Catholic NAB take the gōʾēl to be God, who will vindicate Job; some modern scholars, such as John Walton, think Job means a heavenly advocate.
The verse
Text
BSB19:25But I know that my Redeemer lives, and in the end He will stand upon the earth.26Even after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God.
KJV19:25For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth:26And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God:
JPS19:25But as for me, I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that He will witness at the last upon the dust;26And when after my skin this is destroyed, then without my flesh shall I see God;
gōʾēl is a participle of gāʾal, which BDB defines first as "act as kinsman, do the part of next of kin", then "redeem". In the Law the gōʾēl is the relative who buys back a kinsman's sold land (Lev 25:25), the "avenger of blood" (Num 35:19), and in Ruth the "kinsman" whom Boaz approaches (Ruth 4:1); in Isaiah God is Israel's gōʾēl (Isa 41:14). So "redeemer" in the sense of a paid ransom is only part of the picture: the word is about a family champion who restores what is lost and defends one's right. Translations choose an emphasis: KJV, ASV, BSB, WEB and JPS 1917 "Redeemer" (BSB and NRSV footnote "Or Vindicator"); JPS 2023 and the Catholic NAB (1970) and NABRE "Vindicator" (NABRE lower-case "vindicator"); the Septuagint has "he is eternal who is about to deliver me". The verse does not name the gōʾēl. Rashi takes him to be God, who "lives to requite you" (Job's persecutors); the 1970 NAB likewise speaks of "a future vindication by God (called here in the Hebrew 'Goel')", while the NABRE says only that Job "shall see a future vindicator". Earlier in the book Job longs for an umpire between himself and God (9:33) and a "witness in heaven" (16:19), and later Elihu speaks of a "messenger" (malʾāk, also the word for an angel) and "interpreter" who pleads for a man (33:23). Some modern scholars therefore take the gōʾēl to be a heavenly advocate other than God: the Old Testament scholar John Walton thinks Job "is looking for an advocate from the membership of the divine council", and objects to the traditional view on the ground that "a mediator can't be one of the parties". The UBS translators' handbook judges that "for every argument that concludes that it is God, there is an equally good argument that it is not". Christian readers have long identified the Redeemer with Christ. A capital R usually shows that a translator takes the gōʾēl to be divine (JPS 1917, a Jewish translation, also capitalises; the KJV text in this database prints "redeemer"); that identification, like the identification with Christ, is a reading of the verse, not something the Hebrew word decides.1234567891011121314
Job 19:26 · “in my flesh / without my flesh shall I see God”
וּמִבְּשָׂרִי אֶחֱזֶה אֱלוֹהַּ (ûmibbəśārî ʾeḥĕzeh ʾĕlôah), literally 'and from my flesh I shall see God'
The preposition min, "from", can mean "from within / from the vantage of" (so "in my flesh": KJV, BSB, WEB, Geneva, Douay-Rheims) or "away from / apart from" (so "without my flesh": ASV, JPS 1917; BSB and NRSV give it as an alternative). The first sounds like bodily resurrection, the second like seeing God after death, or (with JPS 2023, "while still in my flesh") before it. The surrounding words are also unclear: ʾaḥărôn in 19:25 may be "at the last" or a title, "the Last" (NRSV margin; YLT "The Living and the Last"), and ʿal-ʿāpār is "upon the dust" (BSB margin: "on my grave"). The Vulgate turns the passage into an explicit resurrection confession, and the Douay-Rheims follows it ("in the last day I shall rise out of the earth ... I shall be clothed again with my skin"; the Latin has Job himself say "de terra surrecturus sum", "I shall rise from the earth"); in the Septuagint the eternal deliverer is "to raise up upon the earth my skin". An early Christian use, 1 Clement 26 (traditionally dated about AD 96), cites the passage, in a free form close to the Greek, as a proof of the resurrection. Catholic scholarship itself cautions that the Vulgate goes further than the Hebrew: the 1970 NAB notes that "in the Vulgate Job is made to indicate a belief in physical resurrection after death, but the Hebrew and the other ancient versions are less specific." The NRSV marks the verse "Meaning of Heb of this verse uncertain". Plainly put: the Hebrew permits but does not require a resurrection reading.15161718111920
Checked in this site's verse database: BDB on גָּאַל; token data for Job 19:25↩How this was derivedlexicon_articles: lexicon='BDB' id='c.ac.aa' (p. 145) → 'vb. redeem, act as kinsman Qal 1. act as kinsman, do the part of next of kin 2. redeem, by payment of value assessed 3. redeem, with God as subj. implying personal relationship'. tokens: Job.19.25 word 3 גֹּ֣אֲלִ/י gloss 'vindicator/ my' morph HVqrmsc/Sp1bs. verse_notes: bsb Job.19.25 footnotes 'Or Vindicator', 'Or on my grave'.
Checked in this site's verse database: Capitalisation of 'redeemer' in the database's editions↩How this was derivedverses: Job.19.25 kjv 'my redeemer liveth' (lower case); asv, jps1917, drc 'my Redeemer liveth'; bsb, web 'my Redeemer lives'.
Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, New American Bible (1970 OT), Job 19 with notes, Libreria Editrice Vaticana (1970) — Text: 'I know that my Vindicator lives, and that he will at last stand forth upon the dust'. Note [25, 27]: 'It is certain that Job expresses his belief in a future vindication by God (called here in the Hebrew "Goel"), but the time and manner of this vindication are undefined.'↩
Checked in this site's verse database: Token data and edition footnotes for Job 19:26↩How this was derivedtokens: Job.19.26 word 5 וּ֝/מִ/בְּשָׂרִ֗/י 'and/ from/ flesh/ my' HC/R/Ncmsc/Sp1bs; word 7 אֱלֽוֹהַּ 'God' HNcmsa. Job.19.25 word 5 וְ֝/אַחֲר֗וֹן 'and/ last' HC/Aamsa; word 7 עָפָ֥ר 'dust'. verse_notes: bsb Job.19.26 'Or without my flesh'; kjv Job.19.26 'And…: or, After I shall awake, though this body be destroyed, yet out of my flesh'.
Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, New American Bible (1970 OT), note on Job 19:25–27, Libreria Editrice Vaticana (1970) — 'The meaning of this passage is obscure because the original text has been poorly preserved and the ancient versions do not agree among themselves. ... In the Vulgate Job is made to indicate a belief in physical resurrection after death, but the Hebrew and the other ancient versions are less specific.'↩
John H. Walton, “The Book of Job, Session 15: Job 19:25 — I know my Redeemer lives”, Biblical eLearning (lecture transcript) (2023) — Transcript of Walton's recorded lecture (posted 29 June 2023; landing page https://biblicalelearning.org/walton_job_session15). 'A second view, and a more traditional one, a very common one, is that God is the advocate, but that's, of course, quite problematic. A mediator can't be one of the parties, especially the one accused of injustice.' 'In my view, the most likely option is that Job is looking for an advocate from the membership of the divine council.' He cites Elihu (33:23–24) and Eliphaz (5:1). Also: 'Hebrew doesn't have capital letters. So, the capitalization is interpretation.' Walton is also the author of the NIV Application Commentary on Job (2012), which was not read here.
William D. Reyburn, A Handbook on the Book of Job (UBS Helps for Translators), United Bible Societies (1992), on Job 19:25 — As reproduced on SIL's Translation Insights and Perspectives site: 'For every argument that concludes that it is God, there is an equally good argument that it is not.' and 'Many modern translations which assume it is God do this by spelling with an initial capital ... Translators who assume Job has a third party in mind will usually spell with a lowercase initial letter.' Read through an automated fetch tool; the printed handbook was not seen.
Rashi, Rashi on Job 19:25 (tr. A. J. Rosenberg, Judaica Press) — 'You persecute me, but I know that my Redeemer lives to requite you, and He will endure and rise.'
“NRSV (Anglicized), Job 19:25–27, with footnotes” — 'For I know that my Redeemer lives'; footnotes 'Or Vindicator', 'Or that he the Last', 'Heb dust', 'Or without', 'Meaning of Heb of this verse uncertain'.
“The JPS Tanakh: Gender-Sensitive Edition (2023), Job 19:25–26”, Sefaria — 'But I know that my Vindicator lives, / And in the end will testify on earth—'
Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, New American Bible (1970 OT), Job 19 with notes, Libreria Editrice Vaticana (1970) — Text: 'I know that my Vindicator lives, and that he will at last stand forth upon the dust'. Note [25, 27]: 'It is certain that Job expresses his belief in a future vindication by God (called here in the Hebrew "Goel"), but the time and manner of this vindication are undefined.'
“New American Bible, Revised Edition (2011), note on Job 19:25–27”, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops — Read through an automated fetch tool that returns extracted text (wording to be confirmed): 'Job asserts three times that he shall see a future vindicator (Hebrew goel), but he leaves the time and manner of this vindication undefined.'
1 Clement 26 (ANF vol. 1) — 'and again, Job says, You shall raise up this flesh of mine, which has suffered all these things.' (cited by the editors as Job 19:25–26).
“Biblia Sacra Vulgata, Job 19:25–27 (Bible Gateway)” — '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'.
Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, New American Bible (1970 OT), note on Job 19:25–27, Libreria Editrice Vaticana (1970) — 'The meaning of this passage is obscure because the original text has been poorly preserved and the ancient versions do not agree among themselves. ... In the Vulgate Job is made to indicate a belief in physical resurrection after death, but the Hebrew and the other ancient versions are less specific.'
Rashi, Rashi on Job 19:26 (tr. A. J. Rosenberg, Judaica Press) — Rashi reads the verse of Job's present suffering, not of a future life: 'and from my flesh I see judgments', taking אלוה as 'an expression of judgment and chastisements'.