New English Translation
Job 9:3
3If someone wishes to contend with him, he cannot answer him one time in a thousand.
Job 9:3 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)If he will contend with him, he cannot answer him one of a thousand.
- New International Version (NIV)Though they wished to dispute with him, they could not answer him one time out of a thousand.
- English Standard Version (ESV)If one wished to contend with him, one could not answer him once in a thousand times.
- New King James Version (NKJV)If one wished to contend with Him, He could not answer Him one time out of a thousand.
Context of Job 9:3
1Then Job answered: 2“Truly, I know that this is so. But how can a human be just before God? If someone wishes to contend with him, he cannot answer him one time in a thousand. 4He is wise in heart and mighty in strength – who has resisted him and remained safe? 5He who removes mountains suddenly, who overturns them in his anger;
Read all of Job 9Job 9:3 word by word
אִם־יַ֭חְפֹּץ לָרִ֣יב עִמּ֑וֹ לֹֽא־יַ֝עֲנֶ֗נּוּ אַחַ֥ת מִנִּי־אָֽלֶף׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Job 9:3
- Job 9:20Although I am innocent, my mouth would condemn me; although I am blameless, it would declare me perverse.
- Job 10:2I will say to God, ‘Do not condemn me; tell me why you are contending with me.’
- Job 23:3O that I knew where I might find him, that I could come to his place of residence!
- Job 31:35“If only I had someone to hear me! Here is my signature – let the Almighty answer me! If only I had an indictment that my accuser had written.
- Job 33:13Why do you contend against him, that he does not answer all a person’s words?
- Job 34:14If God were to set his heart on it, and gather in his spirit and his breath,
- Job 40:2“Will the one who contends with the Almighty correct him? Let the person who accuses God give him an answer!”
- Isaiah 57:15For this is what the high and exalted one says, the one who rules forever, whose name is holy: “I dwell in an exalted and holy place, but also with the discouraged and humiliated, in order to cheer up the humiliated and to encourage the discouraged.
- Romans 9:20But who indeed are you – a mere human being – to talk back to God? Does what is molded say to the molder, “Why have you made me like this?”
- Psalms 19:12Who can know all his errors? Please do not punish me for sins I am unaware of.
- Psalms 40:12For innumerable dangers surround me. My sins overtake me so I am unable to see; they outnumber the hairs of my head so my strength fails me.
- 1 John 1:8If we say we do not bear the guilt of sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.
- 1 John 3:20that if our conscience condemns us, that God is greater than our conscience and knows all things.
Commentaries on Job 9:3
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 3If he will contend with him - God is so holy, and his law so strict, that if he will enter into judgment with his creatures, the most upright of them cannot be justified in his sight. One of a thousand - Of a thousand offenses of which he may be accused he cannot vindicate himself even in one. How little that any man does, even in the way of righteousness, truth, and mercy, can stand the penetrating eye of a just and holy God, when all motives, feelings…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 3If he will contend with him - That is, if God enters into a controversy with man. If he chooses to charge crime on him, and to hold him responsible for his deeds. The language here is taken from courts of justice, and means that if a trial were instituted, where God should submit charges, and the matter were left to adjudication, man could not answer the charges against him; compare the notes at Isaiah 41:1. He cannot answer him one of a thousand - For…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 3If one wished to contend with God: Job later wished to meet God in court (13:3, 15, 23; 23:4).Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 33. If he--God will contend with him--literally, "deign to enter into judgment." he cannot answer, &c.--He (man) would not dare, even if he had a thousand answers in readiness to one question of God's, to utter one of them, from awe of His Majesty.Read the comment
Topics related to Job 9:3
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
New English Translation — © 1996-2016 Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C.
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