EasyEnglish Bible 2018
Job 9:20
20I am right. I have not done anything that is wrong. But my words would say that I am guilty.
Job 9:20 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)If I justify myself, mine own mouth shall condemn me: if I say, I am perfect, it shall also prove me perverse.
- New International Version (NIV)Even if I were innocent, my mouth would condemn me; if I were blameless, it would pronounce me guilty.
- English Standard Version (ESV)Though I am in the right, my own mouth would condemn me; though I am blameless, he would prove me perverse.
- New King James Version (NKJV)Though I were righteous, my own mouth would condemn me; Though I were blameless, it would prove me perverse.
Context of Job 9:20
18He would not allow me to breathe quietly. Instead, he would make me very upset. 19If I tried to fight God, he is much stronger than I am. And if I ask for justice, who can bring God to court? I am right. I have not done anything that is wrong. But my words would say that I am guilty. 21I have not done anything that is wrong. But it does not matter what happens to me. My life is not important to me. 22The same thing happens to good people and to wicked people. So I say, “God destroys people who are not guilty as well as those who are guilty.”
Read all of Job 9Job 9:20 word by word
אִם־אֶ֭צְדָּק פִּ֣י יַרְשִׁיעֵ֑נִי תָּֽם־אָ֝֗נִי וַֽיַּעְקְשֵֽׁנִי׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Job 9:20
- Job 9:2‘The things that you have said are true. But nobody can show God that he is completely good.
- Job 4:17“No human is righteous when he stands in front of God. He cannot be pure in front of his Maker.
- Job 32:1Job would not agree that he had done anything that was wrong. So his three friends refused to argue with him any more.
- Psalms 130:3Lord, if you should write down all our sins, nobody could stand as a righteous person.
- Psalms 143:2Do not judge me, your servant. Nobody is righteous when they stand in front of you.
- Luke 10:29But the man wanted to show that he had been right to ask a question. So he asked, ‘Who are the people near to me that I must love?’
- Luke 16:15Jesus replied, ‘You are happy when people like you. You want them to think that you are good people. But God sees inside you. He knows what you are thinking. The things that many people think are valuable are not valuable to God. He hates those things.’
- Job 15:5It is your sin that causes you to speak like that. You try to say clever things that will deceive people.
- Job 34:35“Job speaks like a fool who knows nothing. He only says useless things.”
- Job 35:16So, Job, you do not understand what you are saying. You speak a lot of words but they do not mean anything.’
- Proverbs 10:19If you talk too much, you will soon do something wrong. But if you are wise, you will stop talking.
- Isaiah 6:5Then I said, ‘It is bad for me! My life is at an end! I have lips that are unclean. I live among people with lips that are unclean. With my own eyes I have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.’
- Matthew 12:36I tell you this: One day, God will judge everybody. On that day, he will ask you about every useless word that you have spoken.
- James 3:2We all make many mistakes. So, if someone never says anything that is bad, that person is completely good. It shows that he has authority over his whole body.
- Job 1:1There was a man who lived in a place called Uz. His name was Job. He was a good and honest man. He was afraid to make God angry. He refused to do evil things.
- Philippians 3:12I am not saying that I have already reached that place in my life. I have not yet completely become the person that God wants me to be. But I am trying very hard to reach that place. That was Christ's purpose when he first made me his own.
Commentaries on Job 9:20
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 20If I justify myself - God must have some reason for his conduct towards me; I therefore do not pretend to justify myself; the attempt to do it would be an insult to his majesty and justice. Though I am conscious of none of the crimes of which you accuse me; and know not why he contends with me; yet he must have some reason, and that reason he does not choose to explain.Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 20If I justify myself, mine own mouth shall condemn me - That is, referring still to the form of a judicial trial, if I should undertake to manage my own cause, I should lay myself open to condemnation even in my argument on the subject, and should show that I was far from the perfection which I had undertaken to maintain. By passionate expressions; by the language of complaint and murmuring; by a want of suitable reverence; by showing my ignorance of the…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 14-21Verses 14-21 Job is still righteous in his own eyes, ch. 32:1, and this answer, though it sets forth the power and majesty of God, implies that the question between the afflicted and the Lord of providence, is a question of might, and not of right; and we begin to discover the evil fruits of pride and of a self-righteous spirit. Job begins to manifest a disposition to condemn God, that he may justify himself, for which he is afterwards reproved. Still Job…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. 2020. it--(Job 15:6; Lu 19:22); or "He," God.Read the comment
Topics related to Job 9:20
In the dictionaries
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
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