Christian Standard Bible
Job 4:17
17“Can a mortal be righteous before God? Can a man be more pure than his Maker?”
Job 4:17 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)Shall mortal man be more just than God? shall a man be more pure than his maker?
- New International Version (NIV)‘Can a mortal be more righteous than God? Can even a strong man be more pure than his Maker?
- English Standard Version (ESV)'Can mortal man be in the right before God? Can a man be pure before his Maker?
- New King James Version (NKJV)‘Can a mortal be more righteous than God? Can a man be more pure than his Maker?
Context of Job 4:17
15I felt a draft on my face, and the hair on my body stood up. 16A figure stood there, but I could not recognize its appearance; a form loomed before my eyes. I heard a whispering voice: “Can a mortal be righteous before God? Can a man be more pure than his Maker?” 18If God puts no trust in his servants and he charges his angels with foolishness, 19how much more those who dwell in clay houses, whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed like a moth!
Read all of Job 4Job 4:17 word by word
הַֽ֭אֱנוֹשׁ מֵאֱל֣וֹהַ יִצְדָּ֑ק אִ֥ם מֵ֝עֹשֵׂ֗הוּ יִטְהַר־גָּֽבֶר׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Job 4:17
- Job 8:3Does God pervert justice? Does the Almighty pervert what is right?
- Job 9:2Yes, I know what you’ve said is true, but how can a person be justified before God?
- Job 35:2Do you think it is just when you say, “I am righteous before God”?
- Job 40:8Would you really challenge my justice? Would you declare me guilty to justify yourself?
- Genesis 18:25You could not possibly do such a thing: to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. You could not possibly do that! Won’t the Judge of the whole earth do what is just?”
- Psalms 143:2Do not bring your servant into judgment, for no one alive is righteous in your sight.
- Psalms 145:17The Lord is righteous in all his ways and faithful in all his acts.
- Ecclesiastes 7:20There is certainly no one righteous on the earth who does good and never sins.
- Jeremiah 12:1You will be righteous, Lord, even if I bring a case against you. Yet, I wish to contend with you: Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all the treacherous live at ease?
- Romans 2:5Because of your hardened and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgment is revealed.
- Romans 3:4Absolutely not! Let God be true, even though everyone is a liar, as it is written: That you may be justified in your words and triumph when you judge.
- Romans 9:20On the contrary, who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? Will what is formed say to the one who formed it, “Why did you make me like this?”
- Romans 11:33Oh, the depth of the riches and the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments and untraceable his ways!
- Job 9:30If I wash myself with snow, and cleanse my hands with lye,
- Job 14:4Who can produce something pure from what is impure? No one!
- Job 15:14What is a mere human, that he should be pure, or one born of a woman, that he should be righteous?
Commentaries on Job 4:17
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 17Shall mortal man - אנוש enosh ; Greek poor, weak, dying man. Be more just than God? - Or, יצדק מאלוה האנוש haenosh meeloah yitsdak ; shall poor, weak, sinful man be justified before God? Shall a man - גבר gaber, shall even the strong and mighty man, be pure before his Maker? Is any man, considered merely in and of himself, either holy in his conduct, or pure in his heart? No. He must be justified by the mercy of God, through an atoning sacrifice; he must…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 17Shall mortal man - Or, shall feeble man. The idea of “mortal” is not necessarily implied in the word used here, אנושׁ 'ĕnôsh It means man; and is usually applied to the lower classes or ranks of people; see the notes at Isaiah 8:1. The common opinion in regard to this word is, that it is derived from אנשׁ 'ânash to be sick, or ill at ease; and then desperate, or incurable - as of a disease or wound; Jeremiah 15:18; Micah 1:9; Job 34:6. Gesenius (Lex)…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 12-21Verses 12-21 Eliphaz relates a vision. When we are communing with our own hearts, and are still, Psa 4:4, then is a time for the Holy Spirit to commune with us. This vision put him into very great fear. Ever since man sinned, it has been terrible to him to receive communications from Heaven, conscious that he can expect no good tidings thence. Sinful man! shall he pretend to be more just, more pure, than God, who being his Maker, is his Lord and Owner?…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 17The characters in the book often say that no one is truly righteous or pure (see 9:2; 15:14; 25:4; 35:7). This is because everyone is flawed (Psalms 14:3; 53:3; Romans 3:10–11). Eliphaz used these terms to say that humans are full of sin and God has no sin. Job and God used them to show that Job had fulfilled his duties to God. Job and Eliphaz never agreed on what these terms meant. Later, God said that Eliphaz had not spoken about him "accurately" (Job…Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1717. mortal man ... a man--Two Hebrew words for "man" are used; the first implying his feebleness; the second his strength. Whether feeble or strong, man is not righteous before God. more just than God ... more pure than his maker--But this would be self-evident without an oracle.Read the comment
Topics related to Job 4:17
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Job 4
- 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
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