God’s Word Translation
Job 14:4
4“If only an unclean person could become clean! It’s not possible.
Job 14:4 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one.
- New International Version (NIV)Who can bring what is pure from the impure? No one!
- English Standard Version (ESV)Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? There is not one.
- New King James Version (NKJV)Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? No one!
Context of Job 14:4
2He comes up like a flower; then he withers. He is like a fleeting shadow; he doesn’t stay long. 3You observe this and call me to account to you. “If only an unclean person could become clean! It’s not possible. 5If the number of his days and the number of his months are determined by you, and you set his limit, then he cannot go past it. 6Look away from him, and he will cease to be. Meanwhile, he loves life as a laborer loves work.
Read all of Job 14Job 14:4 word by word
מִֽי־יִתֵּ֣ן טָ֭הוֹר מִטָּמֵ֗א לֹ֣א אֶחָֽד׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Job 14:4
- Job 15:14Why should a mortal be considered faultless or someone born of a woman be considered righteous?
- Job 25:4How can a person be righteous to God? How can anyone born of a woman be pure?
- Genesis 5:3When Adam was 130 years old, he became the father ⌞of a son⌟ in his own likeness, in his own image. He named him Seth.
- Psalms 51:5Indeed, I was born guilty. I was a sinner when my mother conceived me.
- Psalms 90:5You sweep mortals away. They are a dream. They sprout again in the morning like cut grass.
- John 3:6Flesh and blood give birth to flesh and blood, but the Spirit gives birth to things that are spiritual.
- Romans 5:12Sin came into the world through one person, and death came through sin. So death spread to everyone, because everyone sinned.
- Romans 8:8Those who are under the control of the corrupt nature can’t please God.
- Ephesians 2:3All of us once lived among these people, and followed the desires of our corrupt nature. We did what our corrupt desires and thoughts wanted us to do. So, because of our nature, we deserved God’s anger just like everyone else.
- Luke 1:35The angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come to you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore, the holy child developing inside you will be called the Son of God.
Commentaries on Job 14:4
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 4Who can bring a clean thing - This verse is thus rendered by the Chaldee: "Who will produce a clean thing from man, who is polluted with sins, except God, who is one?" By Coverdale thus: Who can make it cleane, that commeth of an uncleane thinge? No body. The text refers to man's original and corrupt nature. Every man that is born into the world comes into it in a corrupt or sinful state. This is called original sin; and is derived from fallen Adam, who…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 4Who can bring a clean - thing “out of an unclean?” This is evidently a proverb or an adage; but its connection here is not very apparent. Probably, however, it is designed as a plea of mitigation for his conscious frailties and infirmities. He could not but admit that he had faults. But he asks, how could it be expected to be otherwise? He belonged to a race that was sinful and depraved. Connected with such a race, how could it be otherwise than that he…Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 44. A plea in mitigation. The doctrine of original sin was held from the first. "Man is unclean from his birth, how then can God expect perfect cleanness from such a one and deal so severely with me?"Read the comment
Topics related to Job 14:4
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Job 14
- 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
God’s Word Translation — © 1995 God’s Word to the Nations Bible Society
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