New Living Translation
Job 9:29
29Whatever happens, I will be found guilty. So what’s the use of trying?
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 King James Version (NKJV)If I am condemned, Why then do I labor in vain?
Context of Job 9:29
27If I decided to forget my complaints, to put away my sad face and be cheerful, 28I would still dread all the pain, for I know you will not find me innocent, O God. Whatever happens, I will be found guilty. So what’s the use of trying? 30Even if I were to wash myself with soap and clean my hands with lye, 31you would plunge me into a muddy ditch, and my own filthy clothing would hate 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 9:22Innocent or wicked, it is all the same to God. That’s why I say, ‘He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.’
- Job 10:7Although you know I am not guilty, no one can rescue me from your hands.
- Job 21:16(They think their prosperity is of their own doing, but I will have nothing to do with that kind of thinking.)
- Job 22:5No, it’s because of your wickedness! There’s no limit to your sins.
- Psalms 73:13Did I keep my heart pure for nothing? Did I keep myself innocent for no reason?
- Jeremiah 2:35And yet you say, ‘I have done nothing wrong. Surely God isn’t angry with me!’ But now I will punish you severely because you claim you 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
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