Job 36:21

Job 36:21 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)Take heed, regard not iniquity: for this hast thou chosen rather than affliction.
• New International Version (NIV)Beware of turning to evil, which you seem to prefer to affliction.
• English Standard Version (ESV)Take care; do not turn to iniquity, for this you have chosen rather than affliction.
• New King James Version (NKJV)Take heed, do not turn to iniquity, For you have chosen this rather than affliction.

Context of Job 36:21

19Even if you become rich, that would not keep you safe. Even if you were strong and powerful, that would not keep trouble away from you. 20Do not wait for the night to hide what you want to do. That is the time when people disappear from their homes. Be careful! Do not try to do wicked things. God has sent these troubles to test you. He wants to stop you doing evil things. 22Yes, God is very powerful. There is no teacher as good as he is. 23Nobody can tell him what he should do. No one can say to him, “You have done things that are wrong.”

Job 36:21 word by word

הִ֭שָּׁמֶר אַל־תֵּ֣פֶן אֶל־אָ֑וֶן כִּֽי־עַל־זֶ֝֗ה בָּחַ֥רְתָּ מֵעֹֽנִי׃Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• Take heedשָׁמַרshâmar · to keep: carefulH8104
• regardפָּנָהpânâh · to turnH6437
• not iniquityאָ֫וֶן'âven · evil: wickednessH205
• for this hast thou chosenבָּחַרbâchar · to chooseH977
• rather than afflictionעֳנִי‛ŏnîy · afflictionH6040

Cross-references for Job 36:21

• Psalms 66:18If I had kept wicked things in my mind, the Lord would not have listened to me.
• Ezekiel 14:4You must speak to them. Say, “This is what the Almighty Lord says: One of these men who like to worships idols may want to ask me something. Those men allow their idols to cause them to do wicked things. So if one of them goes to a prophet to find out something, I will give him an answer! I will give him the answer that he deserves because of his many idols!
• Matthew 5:29If your right eye leads you to do wrong things, then you should take it out. You should throw it away. Yes, you will lose one eye. But it will be much worse if you keep your whole body and God throws you into hell.
• Job 34:7There has never been a man like Job! He laughs at God as easily as he drinks water.
• Job 35:3But you also say, “If I do nothing wrong, God does not bless me. No good thing comes to me.”
• Daniel 3:16Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego answered the king, ‘King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to say anything to show you that we are not guilty.
• Daniel 6:10Daniel heard that the king had written this new law. Then he went home. He went upstairs to his room where the windows opened in the direction of Jerusalem. He bent down on his knees and he prayed to God, and he thanked God. He did that three times every day, in the same way that he had always done before.
• Matthew 13:21But they are like plants that have not grown down well into the soil. So they only believe for a short time. They may have problems. Or other people may do bad things to them, because they obey God's message. When that happens, these people soon stop believing.
• Matthew 16:24Then Jesus said to his disciples, ‘A person who wants to come with me must not think about himself. He must decide that his own life is not important. He must be like someone who carries his own cross to go and die. Then he may come with me as my disciple.
• Acts 5:40The Jewish leaders agreed with Gamaliel. They told the apostles to come back into the room. They told the police to hit them with whips. Then they said to the apostles, ‘You must not use the authority of Jesus to teach the people.’ After that, they let the apostles go free.
• Hebrews 11:25Instead, Moses chose to join with God's people. He chose to receive trouble and pain together with them. He did not want to live in the king's house and do wrong things. He would only be happy for a short time there.
• 1 Peter 3:17Sometimes God may let you have trouble and pain even when you have done good things. But that is better than if you have trouble and pain because you have done bad things.
• 1 Peter 4:15Do not murder anyone. Do not rob anyone. Do not do evil things. Do not try to cause trouble for other people. If you do those things, you deserve to have trouble.

Commentaries on Job 36:21

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 21Regard not iniquity - It is sinful to entertain such wishes; it is an insult to the providence of God. He sends affliction; he knows this to be best for thee: but thou hast preferred death to affliction, thereby setting thy wisdom against the wisdom of God. Many in affliction, long for death; and yet they are not prepared to appear before God! What madness is this! If he takes them at their wish, they are ruined for ever. Affliction may be the means of…Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 21Take heed, regard not iniquity - That is, be cautious that in the view which you take of the divine government, and the sentiments which you express, you do not become the advocate of iniquity. Elihu apprehended this from the remarks in which he had indulged, and regarded him as having become the advocate of the same sentiments which the wicked held, and as in fact manifesting the same spirit. It is well to put a man who is afflicted on his guard against…Read the comment
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 15-23Verses 15-23 Elihu shows that Job caused the continuance of his own trouble. He cautions him not to persist in frowardness. Even good men need to be kept to their duty by the fear of God's wrath; the wisest and best have enough in them to deserve his stroke. Let not Job continue his unjust quarrel with God and his providence. And let us never dare to think favourably of sin, never indulge it, nor allow ourselves in it. Elihu thinks Job needed this…Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 2121. regard--literally, "turn thyself to." iniquity--namely, presumptuous speaking against God (Job 34:5, and above, see on Job 36:17, 18). rather than--to bear "affliction" with pious patience. Men think it an alleviation to complain against God, but this is adding sin to sorrow; it is sin, not sorrow, which can really hurt us (contrast He 11:25).Read the comment

Topics related to Job 36:21

• Holiness
• Watchfulness

In the dictionaries

• Ascribe
• Elihu
• Esteem
• Hang
• God

Commentaries on Job 36

• 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
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings