New Living Translation
Job 34:31
31“Why don’t people say to God, ‘I have sinned, but I will sin no more’?
Job 34:31 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)Surely it is meet to be said unto God, I have borne chastisement, I will not offend any more:
- New International Version (NIV)“Suppose someone says to God, ‘I am guilty but will offend no more.
- English Standard Version (ESV)"For has anyone said to God, 'I have borne punishment; I will not offend any more;
- New King James Version (NKJV)“For has anyone said to God, ‘I have borne chastening; I will offend no more;
Context of Job 34:31
29But if he chooses to remain quiet, who can criticize him? When he hides his face, no one can find him, whether an individual or a nation. 30He prevents the godless from ruling so they cannot be a snare to the people. “Why don’t people say to God, ‘I have sinned, but I will sin no more’? 32Or ‘I don’t know what evil I have done—tell me. If I have done wrong, I will stop at once’? 33“Must God tailor his justice to your demands? But you have rejected him! The choice is yours, not mine. Go ahead, share your wisdom with us.
Read all of Job 34Job 34:31 word by word
כִּֽי־אֶל־אֵ֭ל הֶאָמַ֥ר נָשָׂ֗אתִי לֹ֣א אֶחְבֹּֽל׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Job 34:31
- Job 33:27He will declare to his friends, ‘I sinned and twisted the truth, but it was not worth it.
- Job 40:3Then Job replied to the Lord,
- Job 42:6I take back everything I said, and I sit in dust and ashes to show my repentance.”
- Leviticus 26:41When I have turned their hostility back on them and brought them to the land of their enemies, then at last their stubborn hearts will be humbled, and they will pay for their sins.
- Ezra 9:13“Now we are being punished because of our wickedness and our great guilt. But we have actually been punished far less than we deserve, for you, our God, have allowed some of us to survive as a remnant.
- Nehemiah 9:33Every time you punished us you were being just. We have sinned greatly, and you gave us only what we deserved.
- Jeremiah 31:18I have heard Israel saying, ‘You disciplined me severely, like a calf that needs training for the yoke. Turn me again to you and restore me, for you alone are the Lord my God.
- Daniel 9:7“Lord, you are in the right; but as you see, our faces are covered with shame. This is true of all of us, including the people of Judah and Jerusalem and all Israel, scattered near and far, wherever you have driven us because of our disloyalty to you.
- Micah 7:9I will be patient as the Lord punishes me, for I have sinned against him. But after that, he will take up my case and give me justice for all I have suffered from my enemies. The Lord will bring me into the light, and I will see his righteousness.
Commentaries on Job 34:31
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 31Surely it is meet to be said unto God - This is Elihu's exhortation to Job: Humble thyself before God, and say, "I have suffered - I will not offend."Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 31Surely it is meet to be said unto God - It is evident that this verse commences a new strain of remark, and that it is designed particularly to bring Job to proper reflections in view of what had occurred. There has been, however, much diversity of opinion about the meaning of this and the following verses. Schultens enumerates no less than “fifteen” different interpretations which have been given of this verse. The “general” meaning seems to be, that a…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 31-37Verses 31-37 When we reprove for what is amiss, we must direct to what is good. Job's friends would have had him own himself a wicked man. Let will only oblige him to own that he spoke unadvisedly with his lips. Let us, in giving reproof, not make a matter worse than it is. Elihu directs Job to humble himself before God for his sins, and to accept the punishment. Also to pray to God to discover his sins to him. A good man is willing to know the worst of…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 31Suppose someone says: Elihu posed the indirect question, "Job, why won't you admit it?"Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 3131. Job accordingly says so (Job 40:3-5; Mi 7:9; Le 26:41). It was to lead him to this that Elihu was sent. Though no hypocrite, Job, like all, had sin; therefore through affliction he was to be brought to humble himself under God. All sorrow is a proof of the common heritage of sin, in which the godly shares; and therefore he ought to regard it as a merciful correction. Umbreit and Maurer lose this by translating, as the Hebrew will bear, "Has any a…Read the comment
Topics related to Job 34:31
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Job 34
- 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
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