Have I any help in me, when resource is driven from me?
English Standard Version (ESV)
This verse is a raw, guttural cry of despair, but what's easily missed is Job's focus on his internal state. He's not just lamenting his lost possessions, but the utter depletion of his own strength and resource – the very essence of his being, his "help" and his "wisdom" (meaning soundness or recovery), feels stripped away from within.
Have I any help in me, when resource is driven from me?
English Standard Version (ESV)
Job's friends have been offering him their well-intentioned but ultimately unhelpful advice, essentially telling him to repent and confess his hidden sins. In response, Job laments his utter powerlessness, feeling that all his own resources—strength, wisdom, and hope for deliverance—have been completely stripped away by his suffering and his friends' accusations. He's not just physically weak; he feels emotionally and spiritually drained, with no internal capacity left to fight or even to think clearly.
Ever felt like you've hit rock bottom, with absolutely nothing left inside to keep you going? Job is there.
In Job 6:13, Job expresses a profound sense of helplessness. The original language suggests that the questions are rhetorical, emphasizing a deep, despairing realization: 'There is NO help in me!'
Exhausted Resources
He's not just talking about physical strength, though that's certainly part of it. The word for 'help' here can also refer to inner resources, the very capacity to cope and endure. Job feels utterly depleted, like a well that has run dry.
Loss of Deliverance
The second part of the verse speaks of 'wisdom' being driven away. This isn't about losing his mind, but about losing the ability to find a way out, the resources for 'deliverance' or 'soundness'. All hope and practical means of escape seem to have vanished.
When you're at your lowest, do you cling to logic, or do you feel like your options have vanished?
Job's question, 'is wisdom driven quite from me?', is a cry from the depths of his suffering. The scholars point out that the word translated 'wisdom' here can also mean 'deliverance,' 'resource,' or even 'soundness.'
Beyond Reason
Job isn't necessarily saying he's lost his mind. Instead, he feels that all practical means of escape and solutions have been stripped away from him. His friends' words, meant to help, have only made him feel more condemned and hopeless, driving away any sense of a way out. He feels abandoned by any means of recovery, both physical and spiritual.
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A Test of Faith
This moment reveals the immense pressure Job is under. He feels utterly cut off from any possibility of help, either from himself or from divine intervention, leaving him in a state of despair.
This psalm echoes Job's feeling of utter destitution and helplessness, crying out, 'But I am poor and needy; yet the Lord thinks on me! You are my help and my deliverer.' It highlights the contrast between Job's perceived lack of help and the psalmist's ultimate reliance on God.
Isaiah 10:2-3This passage directly addresses the futility of human strength and resources when they are not aligned with God's will, echoing Job's lament that his 'help' and 'wisdom' (resource/deliverance) have been driven away, implying they were insufficient on their own.
Jeremiah 17:5-6Jeremiah's prophecy starkly contrasts trusting in humans or one's own strength (like Job feels he cannot do) with trusting in the Lord. It illuminates Job's despair by showing the dire consequences of being cut off from any internal or external 'help' or 'wisdom'.
2 Corinthians 1:8-9Paul's reflection on facing seemingly insurmountable trials, 'we despaired even of life,' parallels Job's sense of having no 'help in me.' This shows that even great servants of God can feel utterly without resources, a state God allows to teach reliance on Him.
Romans 8:18The Apostle Paul speaks of present sufferings not being worth comparing with future glory. This offers a perspective shift on suffering, implying that even in moments of utter depletion, as Job felt, there is a greater purpose and hope rooted in God's ultimate plan.
barnesJob 6:13: "Is not my help in me? and is wisdom driven quite from me?"
Is not my help in me? - This would be better rendered in an affirmative manner, or as an exclamation. The interrogative form of the previous verses need not be continued in this. The sense is, "alas! there is no help in me!" That is, "I have no strength; I must give up under these sorrows in despair." So it is rendered by Jerome, Rosenmuller, Good, Noyes, and others. And is wisdom quite driven from me? - This, also, should be…
ellicottJob 6:13: "Is not my help in me? and is wisdom driven quite from me?"
(13) Is not my help in me? —It is in passages such as these that the actual meaning of Job is so obscure and his words so difficult. The sense may be, “Is it not that I have no help in me, and wisdom is driven quite from me?” or yet again, “Is it because there is no help in me that therefore wisdom is driven far from me?” as is the case by your reproaches and insinuations. (See especially Job 5:2 ; Job 5:27 .)
This verse is a raw, guttural cry of despair, but what's easily missed is Job's focus on his internal state. He's not just lamenting his lost possessions, but the utter depletion of his own strength and resource – the very essence of his being, his "help" and his "wisdom" (meaning soundness or recovery), feels stripped away from within.
Job's friends have been offering him their well-intentioned but ultimately unhelpful advice, essentially telling him to repent and confess his hidden sins. In response, Job laments his utter powerlessness, feeling that all his own resources—strength, wisdom, and hope for deliverance—have been completely stripped away by his suffering and his friends' accusations. He's not just physically weak; he feels emotionally and spiritually drained, with no internal capacity left to fight or even to think clearly.
Job's friends have been offering him their well-intentioned but ultimately unhelpful advice, essentially telling him to repent and confess his hidden sins. In response, Job laments his utter powerlessness, feeling that all his own resources—strength, wisdom, and hope for deliverance—have been completely stripped away by his suffering and his friends' accusations. He's not just physically weak; he feels emotionally and spiritually drained, with no internal capacity left to fight or even to think clearly.
"Have I any help in me, when resource is driven from me?" — This verse is a raw, guttural cry of despair, but what's easily missed is Job's focus on his internal state. He's not just lamenting his lost possessions, but the utter depletion of his own strengt…
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Last reviewed October 2026