English Standard Version
Job 36:21
21Take care; do not turn to iniquity, for this you have chosen rather than affliction.
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.
- New King James Version (NKJV)Take heed, do not turn to iniquity, For you have chosen this rather than affliction.
- New Living Translation (NLT)Be on guard! Turn back from evil, for God sent this suffering to keep you from a life of evil.
Context of Job 36:21
19Will your cry for help avail to keep you from distress, or all the force of your strength? 20Do not long for the night, when peoples vanish in their place. Take care; do not turn to iniquity, for this you have chosen rather than affliction. 22Behold, God is exalted in his power; who is a teacher like him? 23Who has prescribed for him his way, or who can say, 'You have done wrong'?
Read all of Job 36Job 36:21 word by word
הִ֭שָּׁמֶר אַל־תֵּ֣פֶן אֶל־אָ֑וֶן כִּֽי־עַל־זֶ֝֗ה בָּחַ֥רְתָּ מֵעֹֽנִי׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Job 36:21
- Psalms 66:18If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.
- Ezekiel 14:4Therefore speak to them and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Any one of the house of Israel who takes his idols into his heart and sets the stumbling block of his iniquity before his face, and yet comes to the prophet, I the Lord will answer him as he comes with the multitude of his idols,
- Matthew 5:29If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell.
- Job 34:7What man is like Job, who drinks up scoffing like water,
- Job 35:3that you ask, 'What advantage have I? How am I better off than if I had sinned?'
- Daniel 3:16Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter.
- Daniel 6:10When Daniel knew that the document had been signed, he went to his house where he had windows in his upper chamber open toward Jerusalem. He got down on his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he had done previously.
- Matthew 13:21yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away.
- Matthew 16:24Then Jesus told his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
- Acts 5:40and when they had called in the apostles, they beat them and charged them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go.
- Hebrews 11:25choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin.
- 1 Peter 3:17For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing evil.
- 1 Peter 4:15But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler.
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
In the dictionaries
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
English Standard Version — © 2001 Crossway Bibles
Commentaries