English Standard Version
Job 15:14
14What is man, that he can be pure? Or he who is born of a woman, that he can be righteous?
Job 15:14 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)What is man, that he should be clean? and he which is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?
- New International Version (NIV)“What are mortals, that they could be pure, or those born of woman, that they could be righteous?
- New King James Version (NKJV)“What is man, that he could be pure? And he who is born of a woman, that he could be righteous?
- New Living Translation (NLT)Can any mortal be pure? Can anyone born of a woman be just?
Context of Job 15:14
12Why does your heart carry you away, and why do your eyes flash, 13that you turn your spirit against God and bring such words out of your mouth? What is man, that he can be pure? Or he who is born of a woman, that he can be righteous? 15Behold, God puts no trust in his holy ones, and the heavens are not pure in his sight; 16how much less one who is abominable and corrupt, a man who drinks injustice like water!
Read all of Job 15Job 15:14 word by word
מָֽה־אֱנ֥וֹשׁ כִּֽי־יִזְכֶּ֑ה וְכִֽי־יִ֝צְדַּ֗ק יְל֣וּד אִשָּֽׁה׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Job 15:14
- Job 9:2"Truly I know that it is so: But how can a man be in the right before God?
- Job 14:4Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? There is not one.
- Job 25:4How then can man be in the right before God? How can he who is born of woman be pure?
- 1 Kings 8:46"If they sin against you—for there is no one who does not sin—and you are angry with them and give them to an enemy, so that they are carried away captive to the land of the enemy, far off or near,
- 2 Chronicles 6:36"If they sin against you—for there is no one who does not sin—and you are angry with them and give them to an enemy, so that they are carried away captive to a land far or near,
- Psalms 14:3They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one.
- Psalms 51:5Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.
- Proverbs 20:9Who can say, "I have made my heart pure; I am clean from my sin"?
- Ecclesiastes 7:20Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins.
- John 3:6That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
- Romans 7:18For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.
- Galatians 3:22But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.
- Ephesians 2:2in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—
- 1 John 1:8If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
Commentaries on Job 15:14
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 14What is man, that he should be clean? - אנוש מה mah enosh ; what is weak, sickly, dying, miserable man, that he should be clean? This is the import of the original word enosh. And - born of a woman, that he should be righteous? - It appears, from many passages in the sacred writings, that natural birth was supposed to be a defilement; and that every man born into the world was in a state of moral pollution. Perhaps the word יצדק yitsdak should be…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 14What is man that he should be clean? - The object of Eliphaz in this is to overturn the positions of Job that he was righteous, and had been punished beyond his deserts. He had before maintained Job 4:7, that no one ever perished being innocent, and that the righteous were not cut off. This was with him a favorite position; and indeed the whole drift of the argument maintained by him and his friends was, to prove that uncommon calamities were proof of…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 14What is man, that he should be pure: Eliphaz repeated himself and Job (4:17–19; 7:17; 14:4). one born of woman: Both man and born of woman suggest weakness.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1414. Eliphaz repeats the revelation (Job 4:17) in substance, but using Job's own words (see on Job 14:1, on "born of a woman") to strike him with his own weapons.Read the comment
Topics related to Job 15:14
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Job 15
- 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
English Standard Version — © 2001 Crossway Bibles
Commentaries