New International Version
Job 4:17
17‘Can a mortal be more righteous than God? Can even a strong man be more pure than his Maker?
Job 4:17 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)Shall mortal man be more just than God? shall a man be more pure than his maker?
- English Standard Version (ESV)'Can mortal man be in the right before God? Can a man be pure before his Maker?
- New King James Version (NKJV)‘Can a mortal be more righteous than God? Can a man be more pure than his Maker?
- New Living Translation (NLT)‘Can a mortal be innocent before God? Can anyone be pure before the Creator?’
Context of Job 4:17
15A spirit glided past my face, and the hair on my body stood on end. 16It stopped, but I could not tell what it was. A form stood before my eyes, and I heard a hushed voice: ‘Can a mortal be more righteous than God? Can even a strong man be more pure than his Maker? 18If God places no trust in his servants, if he charges his angels with error, 19how much more those who live in houses of clay, whose foundations are in the dust, who are crushed more readily than a moth!
Read all of Job 4Job 4:17 word by word
הַֽ֭אֱנוֹשׁ מֵאֱל֣וֹהַ יִצְדָּ֑ק אִ֥ם מֵ֝עֹשֵׂ֗הוּ יִטְהַר־גָּֽבֶר׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Job 4:17
- Job 8:3Does God pervert justice? Does the Almighty pervert what is right?
- Job 9:2“Indeed, I know that this is true. But how can mere mortals prove their innocence before God?
- Job 35:2“Do you think this is just? You say, ‘I am in the right, not God.’
- Job 40:8“Would you discredit my justice? Would you condemn me to justify yourself?
- Genesis 18:25Far be it from you to do such a thing—to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike. Far be it from you! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?”
- Psalms 143:2Do not bring your servant into judgment, for no one living is righteous before you.
- Psalms 145:17The Lord is righteous in all his ways and faithful in all he does.
- Ecclesiastes 7:20Indeed, there is no one on earth who is righteous, no one who does what is right and never sins.
- Jeremiah 12:1You are always righteous, Lord, when I bring a case before you. Yet I would speak with you about your justice: Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all the faithless live at ease?
- Romans 2:5But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed.
- Romans 3:4Not at all! Let God be true, and every human being a liar. As it is written: “So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge.”
- Romans 9:20But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’ ”
- Romans 11:33Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!
- Job 9:30Even if I washed myself with soap and my hands with cleansing powder,
- Job 14:4Who can bring what is pure from the impure? No one!
- Job 15:14“What are mortals, that they could be pure, or those born of woman, that they could be righteous?
Commentaries on Job 4:17
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 17Shall mortal man - אנוש enosh ; Greek poor, weak, dying man. Be more just than God? - Or, יצדק מאלוה האנוש haenosh meeloah yitsdak ; shall poor, weak, sinful man be justified before God? Shall a man - גבר gaber, shall even the strong and mighty man, be pure before his Maker? Is any man, considered merely in and of himself, either holy in his conduct, or pure in his heart? No. He must be justified by the mercy of God, through an atoning sacrifice; he must…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 17Shall mortal man - Or, shall feeble man. The idea of “mortal” is not necessarily implied in the word used here, אנושׁ 'ĕnôsh It means man; and is usually applied to the lower classes or ranks of people; see the notes at Isaiah 8:1. The common opinion in regard to this word is, that it is derived from אנשׁ 'ânash to be sick, or ill at ease; and then desperate, or incurable - as of a disease or wound; Jeremiah 15:18; Micah 1:9; Job 34:6. Gesenius (Lex)…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 12-21Verses 12-21 Eliphaz relates a vision. When we are communing with our own hearts, and are still, Psa 4:4, then is a time for the Holy Spirit to commune with us. This vision put him into very great fear. Ever since man sinned, it has been terrible to him to receive communications from Heaven, conscious that he can expect no good tidings thence. Sinful man! shall he pretend to be more just, more pure, than God, who being his Maker, is his Lord and Owner?…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 17The characters in the book often say that no one is truly righteous or pure (see 9:2; 15:14; 25:4; 35:7). This is because everyone is flawed (Psalms 14:3; 53:3; Romans 3:10–11). Eliphaz used these terms to say that humans are full of sin and God has no sin. Job and God used them to show that Job had fulfilled his duties to God. Job and Eliphaz never agreed on what these terms meant. Later, God said that Eliphaz had not spoken about him "accurately" (Job…Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1717. mortal man ... a man--Two Hebrew words for "man" are used; the first implying his feebleness; the second his strength. Whether feeble or strong, man is not righteous before God. more just than God ... more pure than his maker--But this would be self-evident without an oracle.Read the comment
Topics related to Job 4:17
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Job 4
- 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
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