Job 14:4

Job 14:4 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one.
• New International Version (NIV)Who can bring what is pure from the impure? No one!
• English Standard Version (ESV)Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? There is not one.
• New King James Version (NKJV)Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? No one!

Context of Job 14:4

2He blossoms like a flower, then withers; he flees like a shadow and does not last. 3Do you really take notice of one like this? Will you bring me into judgment against you? Who can produce something pure from what is impure? No one! 5Since a person’s days are determined and the number of his months depends on you, and since you have set limits he cannot pass, 6look away from him and let him rest so that he can enjoy his day like a hired worker.

Job 14:4 word by word

מִֽי־יִתֵּ֣ן טָ֭הוֹר מִטָּמֵ֗א לֹ֣א אֶחָֽד׃Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• Who can bringנָתַןnâthan · to give: giveH5414
• a cleanטָהוֹרţâhôr ţâhôr · pureH2889
• out of an uncleanטָמֵאţâmê' · uncleanH2931
• not oneאֶחָד'echâd · oneH259

Cross-references for Job 14:4

• Job 15:14What is a mere human, that he should be pure, or one born of a woman, that he should be righteous?
• Job 25:4How can a human be justified before God? How can one born of woman be pure?
• Genesis 5:3Adam was 130 years old when he fathered a son in his likeness, according to his image, and named him Seth.
• Psalms 51:5Indeed, I was guilty when I was born; I was sinful when my mother conceived me.
• Psalms 90:5You end their lives; they sleep. They are like grass that grows in the morning —
• John 3:6Whatever is born of the flesh is flesh, and whatever is born of the Spirit is spirit.
• Romans 5:12Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, in this way death spread to all people, because all sinned.
• Romans 8:8Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
• Ephesians 2:3We too all previously lived among them in our fleshly desires, carrying out the inclinations of our flesh and thoughts, and we were by nature children under wrath as the others were also.
• Luke 1:35The angel replied to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore, the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.

Commentaries on Job 14:4

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 4Who can bring a clean thing - This verse is thus rendered by the Chaldee: "Who will produce a clean thing from man, who is polluted with sins, except God, who is one?" By Coverdale thus: Who can make it cleane, that commeth of an uncleane thinge? No body. The text refers to man's original and corrupt nature. Every man that is born into the world comes into it in a corrupt or sinful state. This is called original sin; and is derived from fallen Adam, who…Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 4Who can bring a clean - thing “out of an unclean?” This is evidently a proverb or an adage; but its connection here is not very apparent. Probably, however, it is designed as a plea of mitigation for his conscious frailties and infirmities. He could not but admit that he had faults. But he asks, how could it be expected to be otherwise? He belonged to a race that was sinful and depraved. Connected with such a race, how could it be otherwise than that he…Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 44. A plea in mitigation. The doctrine of original sin was held from the first. "Man is unclean from his birth, how then can God expect perfect cleanness from such a one and deal so severely with me?"Read the comment

Topics related to Job 14:4

• Depravity of Man
• Heredity
• Readings, Select
• Sin
• Wicked (People)

In the dictionaries

• Awake
• Born
• Change
• Clean
• Plow
• Raise
• Sew
• Stock
• Wait
• Waste

Commentaries on Job 14

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Rashi on Tanakh
• Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings