Job 19:28,29

Brief threat to his three friends. God's appearance, which will bring joy to Job, will carry terror to those who persecute him and fasten false charges of guilt upon him. The language in these verses is in some parts obscure, and there may be faults in the text. Job 19:28 reads in connexion with Job 19:29,

If ye say, How we will pursue him!

And the root of the matter is found in me:

Be ye afraid of the sword, &c.

Job 19:28 forms the supposition and Job 19:29 states the consequence, the penalty of the conduct referred to on the part of Job's friends. If they shall continue their unjust persecution of him, asserting that the "root of the matter," i. e. the real cause of his afflictions, is found in himself, in his transgressions, then Job warns them that they will bring on themselves the "sword" of Divine vengeance.