New King James Version
Job 36:21
21Take heed, do not turn to iniquity, For you have chosen this rather than affliction.
Job 36:21 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)Take heed, regard not iniquity: for this hast thou chosen rather than affliction.
- New International Version (NIV)Beware of turning to evil, which you seem to prefer to affliction.
- English Standard Version (ESV)Take care; do not turn to iniquity, for this you have chosen rather than affliction.
- New Living Translation (NLT)Be on guard! Turn back from evil, for God sent this suffering to keep you from a life of evil.
Context of Job 36:21
19Will your riches, Or all the mighty forces, Keep you from distress? 20Do not desire the night, When people are cut off in their place. Take heed, do not turn to iniquity, For you have chosen this rather than affliction. 22“Behold, God is exalted by His power; Who teaches like Him? 23Who has assigned Him His way, Or who has said, ‘You have done wrong’?
Read all of Job 36Job 36:21 word by word
הִ֭שָּׁמֶר אַל־תֵּ֣פֶן אֶל־אָ֑וֶן כִּֽי־עַל־זֶ֝֗ה בָּחַ֥רְתָּ מֵעֹֽנִי׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Job 36:21
- Psalms 66:18If I regard iniquity in my heart, The Lord will not hear.
- Ezekiel 14:4“Therefore speak to them, and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God: “Everyone of the house of Israel who sets up his idols in his heart, and puts before him what causes him to stumble into iniquity, and then comes to the prophet, I the Lord will answer him who comes, according to the multitude of his idols,
- Matthew 5:29If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.
- Job 34:7What man is like Job, Who drinks scorn like water,
- Job 35:3For you say, ‘What advantage will it be to You? What profit shall I have, more than if I had sinned?’
- Daniel 3:16Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter.
- Daniel 6:10Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went home. And in his upper room, with his windows open toward Jerusalem, he knelt down on his knees three times that day, and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as was his custom since early days.
- Matthew 13:21yet he has no root in himself, but endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles.
- Matthew 16:24Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.
- Acts 5:40And they agreed with him, and when they had called for the apostles and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go.
- Hebrews 11:25choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin,
- 1 Peter 3:17For it is better, if it is the will of God, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.
- 1 Peter 4:15But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or as a busybody in other people’s matters.
Commentaries on Job 36:21
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 21Regard not iniquity - It is sinful to entertain such wishes; it is an insult to the providence of God. He sends affliction; he knows this to be best for thee: but thou hast preferred death to affliction, thereby setting thy wisdom against the wisdom of God. Many in affliction, long for death; and yet they are not prepared to appear before God! What madness is this! If he takes them at their wish, they are ruined for ever. Affliction may be the means of…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 21Take heed, regard not iniquity - That is, be cautious that in the view which you take of the divine government, and the sentiments which you express, you do not become the advocate of iniquity. Elihu apprehended this from the remarks in which he had indulged, and regarded him as having become the advocate of the same sentiments which the wicked held, and as in fact manifesting the same spirit. It is well to put a man who is afflicted on his guard against…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 15-23Verses 15-23 Elihu shows that Job caused the continuance of his own trouble. He cautions him not to persist in frowardness. Even good men need to be kept to their duty by the fear of God's wrath; the wisest and best have enough in them to deserve his stroke. Let not Job continue his unjust quarrel with God and his providence. And let us never dare to think favourably of sin, never indulge it, nor allow ourselves in it. Elihu thinks Job needed this…Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 2121. regard--literally, "turn thyself to." iniquity--namely, presumptuous speaking against God (Job 34:5, and above, see on Job 36:17, 18). rather than--to bear "affliction" with pious patience. Men think it an alleviation to complain against God, but this is adding sin to sorrow; it is sin, not sorrow, which can really hurt us (contrast He 11:25).Read the comment
Topics related to Job 36:21
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Job 36
- 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
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
New King James Version — © 1982 Thomas Nelson, Inc
Commentaries