English Standard Version
Job 9:30
30If I wash myself with snow and cleanse my hands with lye,
Job 9:30 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)If I wash myself with snow water, and make my hands never so clean;
- New International Version (NIV)Even if I washed myself with soap and my hands with cleansing powder,
- New King James Version (NKJV)If I wash myself with snow water, And cleanse my hands with soap,
- New Living Translation (NLT)Even if I were to wash myself with soap and clean my hands with lye,
Context of Job 9:30
28I become afraid of all my suffering, for I know you will not hold me innocent. 29I shall be condemned; why then do I labor in vain? If I wash myself with snow and cleanse my hands with lye, 31yet you will plunge me into a pit, and my own clothes will abhor me. 32For he is not a man, as I am, that I might answer him, that we should come to trial together.
Read all of Job 9Job 9:30 word by word
אִם־הִתְרָחַ֥צְתִּי בְמֵי שָׁ֑לֶג וַ֝הֲזִכּ֗וֹתִי בְּבֹ֣ר כַּפָּֽי׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Job 9:30
- Psalms 26:6I wash my hands in innocence and go around your altar, O Lord,
- Proverbs 28:13Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.
- Isaiah 1:16Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil,
- Jeremiah 2:22Though you wash yourself with lye and use much soap, the stain of your guilt is still before me, declares the Lord God.
- Jeremiah 4:14O Jerusalem, wash your heart from evil, that you may be saved. How long shall your wicked thoughts lodge within you?
- Romans 10:3For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness.
- 1 John 1:8If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
Commentaries on Job 9:30
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 30If I wash myself with snow water - Supposed to have a more detergent quality than common water; and it was certainly preferred to common water by the ancients. Of this we find an example in an elegant but licentious author: Tandem ergo discubuimus, pueris Alexandrinis Aquam in manus Nivatam infundentibus, aliisque insequentibus ad pedes - Petr. Satyr., cap. xxxi. "At length we sat down, and had snow water poured on our hands by lads of Alexandria," etc…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 30If I wash myself with snow water - If I should make myself as pure as possible, and should become, in my view, perfectly holy. Snow water, it seems, was regarded as especially pure. The whiteness of snow itself perhaps suggested the idea that the water of melted snow was better than other for purification. Washing the hands formerly was an emblem of cleansing from guilt. Hence Pilate, when he gave up the Savior to death, took water and washed his hands…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. 30wash myself: Job talked about using the strongest soap (lye) to represent removing all sin (1:5; compare Psalm 26:6; Matthew 27:24).Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 3030. snow water--thought to be more cleansing than common water, owing to the whiteness of snow (Psa 51:7; Is 1:18). never so clean--Better, to answer to the parallelism of the first clause which expresses the cleansing material, "lye:" the Arabs used alkali mixed with oil, as soap (Psa 73:13; Jr 2:22).Read the comment
Topics related to Job 9:30
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
English Standard Version — © 2001 Crossway Bibles
Commentaries