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 is like a flower that grows and then it soon dies. His life quickly disappears like a shadow. 3I am only a human like that, so why do you watch me so carefully? Why do you want to bring me into a court to judge me? People are not clean and pure. Nobody can change them to become pure. 5You have decided how long people should live. You control the number of months that each person will live. Nobody can live any longer than that. 6So do not watch us! Leave us alone! We must work for the time that you have decided. Please leave us to work in peace.

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 15:14No one who is human can be truly pure and righteous.
• Job 25:4No human is righteous when he stands in front of God. He cannot be pure.
• Genesis 5:3When Adam was 130 years old, he had a son who was like him. Adam called him Seth.
• Psalms 51:5Yes, even from the day I was born I have done bad things. I have always been guilty of sin.
• Psalms 90:5You cause people's lives to end, as a dream finishes when you wake up. People are like grass that appears in the morning.
• John 3:6People give birth to what is human. But God's Spirit gives birth to spirit.
• Romans 5:12It was because of one man, Adam, that sin came into the world. Death was the result of Adam's sin. Because of that, death came to all people, because everyone failed to obey God.
• Romans 8:8People who let their human thoughts rule them cannot make God happy.
• Ephesians 2:3At one time, all of us lived like those people. We did whatever bad things our bodies wanted to do. If our thoughts made us want to do something, we did it. Because we were like that, God was angry with us. He should have punished us, just like everyone else.
• Luke 1:35Gabriel answered, ‘The Holy Spirit will come to you. The power of God who is over all will cover you like a shadow. So your child will be special to God. He will be completely good. He will be called God's Son.

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