New King James Version
Job 9:29
29If I am condemned, Why then do I labor in vain?
Job 9:29 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)If I be wicked, why then labour I in vain?
- New International Version (NIV)Since I am already found guilty, why should I struggle in vain?
- English Standard Version (ESV)I shall be condemned; why then do I labor in vain?
- New Living Translation (NLT)Whatever happens, I will be found guilty. So what’s the use of trying?
Context of Job 9:29
27If I say, ‘I will forget my complaint, I will put off my sad face and wear a smile,’ 28I am afraid of all my sufferings; I know that You will not hold me innocent. If I am condemned, Why then do I labor in vain? 30If I wash myself with snow water, And cleanse my hands with soap, 31Yet You will plunge me into the pit, And my own clothes will abhor me.
Read all of Job 9Job 9:29 word by word
אָנֹכִ֥י אֶרְשָׁ֑ע לָמָּה־זֶּ֝֗ה הֶ֣בֶל אִיגָֽע׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Job 9:29
- Job 9:22It is all one thing; Therefore I say, ‘He destroys the blameless and the wicked.’
- Job 10:7Although You know that I am not wicked, And there is no one who can deliver from Your hand?
- Job 21:16Indeed their prosperity is not in their hand; The counsel of the wicked is far from me.
- Job 22:5Is not your wickedness great, And your iniquity without end?
- Psalms 73:13Surely I have cleansed my heart in vain, And washed my hands in innocence.
- Jeremiah 2:35Yet you say, ‘Because I am innocent, Surely His anger shall turn from me.’ Behold, I will plead My case against you, Because you say, ‘I have not sinned.’
Commentaries on Job 9:29
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 29If I be wicked - If I am the sinner you suppose me to be, in vain should I labor to counterfeit joy, and cease to complain of my sufferings.Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 29If I be wicked, why then labour I in vain? - The word “if,” here introduced by our translators, greatly obscures the sense. The meaning evidently is, “I am held to be guilty, and cannot answer to that charge. God regards me as such, and if I should attempt to meet him on the charge, it would be a vain attempt; and I must admit its truth. It would be labor in vain to deny it against one so mighty as he is.” This interpretation accords with the argument in…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 25-35Verses 25-35 What little need have we of pastimes, and what great need to redeem time, when it runs on so fast towards eternity! How vain the enjoyments of time, which we may quite lose while yet time continues! The remembrance of having done our duty will be pleasing afterwards; so will not the remembrance of having got worldly wealth, when it is all lost and gone. Job's complaint of God, as one that could not be appeased and would not relent, was the…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 1-35Job answered Bildad by describing God's universal and legal power. His speech resembles a complex legal case. It includes: A summons and response (9:3, 14–16, 19b, 32). The risk of proving himself guilty (9:20). A "mediator" (9:33–34). A question of accusation (9:12). A legal sentence (9:22). A declaration of guilt (9:28–30).Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 2929. The "if" is better omitted; I (am treated by God as) wicked; why then labor I in vain (to disprove His charge)? Job submits, not so much because he is convinced that God is right, as because God is powerful and he weak [Barnes].Read the comment
Topics related to Job 9:29
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 King James Version — © 1982 Thomas Nelson, Inc
Commentaries