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

27I may try to be happy and to smile. I may try to forget about my troubles. 28Even then, I will be afraid of all my pain. God, I know that you think I am guilty. So, if I am guilty, it is useless to do anything about it. 30I might wash myself with pure water. I might clean my hands with soap. 31But then God would throw me down into a dirty hole. Even my own clothes would be ashamed of me!

Job 9:29 word by word

אָנֹכִ֥י אֶרְשָׁ֑ע לָמָּה־זֶּ֝֗ה הֶ֣בֶל אִיגָֽע׃Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• I be wickedרָשַׁעrâsha‛ · be wickedH7561
• why then labourיָגֵעַyâga‛ · be weary/toilH3021
• I in vainהֶ֫בֶלhebel hăbêl · vanityH1892

Cross-references for Job 9:29

• Job 9:22The 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.”
• Job 10:7You know that I am not guilty. But you also know that no one can save me from your power.
• Job 21:16They think that they have made themselves rich. But it is not true. So I do not listen to the things that wicked people say.
• Job 22:5No! It is because you are a very wicked person. You have done too many evil things for anyone to count them. That is why he is punishing you.
• Psalms 73:13I decided that I had tried to do what is right, but it did not help me at all! I had refused to do anything wrong, for no good reason!
• Jeremiah 2:35“We have not done anything that is wrong. God cannot be angry with us!” Be careful! I will surely punish you, because you say, “I am not guilty of any sin.”

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