God’s Word Translation
Job 15:14
14Why should a mortal be considered faultless or someone born of a woman be considered 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?
- English Standard Version (ESV)What is man, that he can be pure? Or he who is born of a woman, that he can 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?
Context of Job 15:14
12Why have your emotions carried you away? Why do your eyes flash 13when you turn against God and spit these words out of your mouth? Why should a mortal be considered faultless or someone born of a woman be considered righteous? 15If God doesn’t trust his holy ones, and the heavens are not pure in his sight, 16how much less will he trust the one who is disgusting and corrupt, the one who drinks wickedness 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“Yes, I know that this is true. But how can a mortal be declared righteous to God?
- Job 14:4“If only an unclean person could become clean! It’s not possible.
- Job 25:4How can a person be righteous to God? How can anyone born of a woman be pure?
- 1 Kings 8:46“They may sin against you. (No one is sinless.) You may become angry with them and hand them over to an enemy who takes them to ⌞another⌟ country as captives, ⌞whether it is⌟ far or near.
- 2 Chronicles 6:36“They may sin against you. (No one is sinless.) You may become angry with them and hand them over to an enemy who takes them to ⌞another⌟ country as captives, ⌞whether it is⌟ far or near.
- Psalms 14:3Everyone has turned away. Together they have become rotten to the core. No one, not even one person, does good things.
- Psalms 51:5Indeed, I was born guilty. I was a sinner when my mother conceived me.
- Proverbs 20:9Who can say, “I’ve made my heart pure. I’m cleansed from my sin”?
- Ecclesiastes 7:20Certainly, there is no one so righteous on earth that he always does what is good and never sins.
- John 3:6Flesh and blood give birth to flesh and blood, but the Spirit gives birth to things that are spiritual.
- Romans 7:18I know that nothing good lives in me; that is, nothing good lives in my corrupt nature. Although I have the desire to do what is right, I don’t do it.
- Galatians 3:22But Scripture states that the whole world is controlled by the power of sin. Therefore, a promise based on faith in Jesus Christ could be given to those who believe.
- Ephesians 2:2You followed the ways of this present world and its spiritual ruler. This ruler continues to work in people who refuse to obey God.
- 1 John 1:8If we say, “We aren’t sinful” we are deceiving 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
God’s Word Translation — © 1995 God’s Word to the Nations Bible Society
Commentaries