Job 9:29

Job 9:29 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)If I be wicked, why then labour I in vain?
• New International Version (NIV)Since I am already found guilty, why should I struggle in vain?
• English Standard Version (ESV)I shall be condemned; why then do I labor in vain?
• New King James Version (NKJV)If I am condemned, Why then do I labor in vain?

Context of Job 9:29

27If I say, I will forget my complaint, I will leave off my [sad] countenance, and brighten up, 28I am afraid of all my sorrows; I know that thou wilt not hold me innocent. Be it that I am wicked, why then do I labour in vain? 30If I washed myself with snow-water, and cleansed my hands in purity, 31Then wouldest thou plunge me in the ditch, and mine own clothes would abhor me.

Job 9:29 word by word

אָנֹכִ֥י אֶרְשָׁ֑ע לָמָּה־זֶּ֝֗ה הֶ֣בֶל אִיגָֽע׃Read the interlinear

• whyמָהmâh mah mâ ma meh · what?H4100

Cross-references for Job 9:29

• Job 9:22It is all one; therefore I said, he destroyeth the perfect and the wicked.
• Job 10:7Since thou knowest that I am not wicked, and that there is none that delivereth out of thy hand?
• Job 21:16Behold, their prosperity is not in their hand. The counsel of the wicked be far from me!
• Job 22:5Is not thy wickedness great? and thine iniquities without end?
• Psalms 73:13Truly have I purified my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency:
• Jeremiah 2:35And thou sayest, Indeed I am innocent; his anger will turn from me. Behold, I will enter into judgment with thee because thou sayest, I have not sinned.

Commentaries on Job 9:29

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 29If I be wicked - If I am the sinner you suppose me to be, in vain should I labor to counterfeit joy, and cease to complain of my sufferings.Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 29If I be wicked, why then labour I in vain? - The word “if,” here introduced by our translators, greatly obscures the sense. The meaning evidently is, “I am held to be guilty, and cannot answer to that charge. God regards me as such, and if I should attempt to meet him on the charge, it would be a vain attempt; and I must admit its truth. It would be labor in vain to deny it against one so mighty as he is.” This interpretation accords with the argument in…Read the comment
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 25-35Verses 25-35 What little need have we of pastimes, and what great need to redeem time, when it runs on so fast towards eternity! How vain the enjoyments of time, which we may quite lose while yet time continues! The remembrance of having done our duty will be pleasing afterwards; so will not the remembrance of having got worldly wealth, when it is all lost and gone. Job's complaint of God, as one that could not be appeased and would not relent, was the…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 1-35Job answered Bildad by describing God's universal and legal power. His speech resembles a complex legal case. It includes: A summons and response (9:3, 14–16, 19b, 32). The risk of proving himself guilty (9:20). A "mediator" (9:33–34). A question of accusation (9:12). A legal sentence (9:22). A declaration of guilt (9:28–30).Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 2929. The "if" is better omitted; I (am treated by God as) wicked; why then labor I in vain (to disprove His charge)? Job submits, not so much because he is convinced that God is right, as because God is powerful and he weak [Barnes].Read the comment

Topics related to Job 9:29

• Afflictions and Adversities
• Depravity of Man
• God

In the dictionaries

• Chamber
• Contend
• Daysman
• Pillar
• Job, Book of
• condemn, condemned, condemnation

Commentaries on Job 9

• 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