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Monday, October 21st, 2024
the Week of Proper 24 / Ordinary 29
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Read the Bible

King James Version

Job 35:2

Thinkest thou this to be right, that thou saidst, My righteousness is more than God's?

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Man;   Self-Righteousness;   Thompson Chain Reference - Self-Justification-Self-Condemnation;   Self-Righteousness;  

Dictionaries:

- Holman Bible Dictionary - Guilt;   Job, the Book of;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Elihu;  

Parallel Translations

New Living Translation
"Do you think it is right for you to claim, ‘I am righteous before God'?
English Revised Version
Thinkest thou this to be thy right, or sayest thou, My righteousness is more than God's,
Update Bible Version
Do you think this to be [your] right, [Or] do you say, My righteousness is more than God's,
New Century Version
"Do you think this is fair? You say, ‘God will show that I am right,'
New English Translation
"Do you think this to be just: when you say, ‘My right before God.'
Webster's Bible Translation
Thinkest thou this to be right, [that] thou saidst, My righteousness [is] more than God's?
World English Bible
"Do you think this to be your right, Or do you say, 'My righteousness is more than God's,'
Amplified Bible
"Do you think this is according to [your] justice? Do you say, 'My righteousness is more than God's'?
English Standard Version
"Do you think this to be just? Do you say, ‘It is my right before God,'
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
`ether riytful, to thee, that thou schuldist seie, Y am riytfulere than God?
Berean Standard Bible
"Do you think it is just when you say, 'I am righteous before God.'?
Contemporary English Version
Job, are you really innocent in the sight of God?
American Standard Version
Thinkest thou this to be thy right, Or sayest thou, My righteousness is more than God's,
Bible in Basic English
Does it seem to you to be right, and righteousness before God, to say,
Complete Jewish Bible
"Are you so convinced you are right, that you say, ‘I am more just than God'?
Darby Translation
Thinkest thou this to be right, that thou saidst, My righteousness is more than God's?
Easy-to-Read Version
"Job, it is not fair for you to say, ‘I am more right than God,'
JPS Old Testament (1917)
Thinkest thou this to be thy right, or sayest thou: 'I am righteousness before God',
King James Version (1611)
Thinkest thou this to bee right, that thou saydest, My righteousnesse is more then Gods?
New Life Bible
"Do you think this is right? Do you say, ‘I am more right than God'?
New Revised Standard
"Do you think this to be just? You say, ‘I am in the right before God.'
Geneva Bible (1587)
Thinkest thou this right, that thou hast said, I am more righteous then God?
George Lamsa Translation
Do you think you were justified in saying, I have been found blameless by God?
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
This, dost thou think to be right? Thou hast said - My righteousness is more than GOD'S.
Douay-Rheims Bible
Doth thy thought seem right to thee, that thou shouldst say: I am more just than God?
Revised Standard Version
"Do you think this to be just? Do you say, 'It is my right before God,'
Bishop's Bible (1568)
Thinkest thou it right that thou sayest, I am more righteous then God?
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
What is this that thou thinkest to be according to right? who art thou that thou hast said, I am righteous before the Lord?
Christian Standard Bible®
Do you think it is just when you say,“I am righteous before God”?
Hebrew Names Version
"Do you think this to be your right, Or do you say, 'My righteousness is more than God's,'
Lexham English Bible
"Do you think this is justice when you say, ‘I am right before God'?
Literal Translation
Do you think this to be just, you that say, I am more just than God?
Young's Literal Translation
This hast thou reckoned for judgment: Thou hast said -- `My righteousness [is] more than God's?'
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Thinkest thou it right that thou sayest: I am rightuous before God
New American Standard Bible
"Do you think this is in accordance with justice? Do you say, 'My righteousness is more than God's'?
New King James Version
"Do you think this is right? Do you say, "My righteousness is more than God's'?
New American Standard Bible (1995)
"Do you think this is according to justice? Do you say, 'My righteousness is more than God's'?
Legacy Standard Bible
"Do you think this is according to justice?Do you say, ‘My righteousness is more than God's'?

Contextual Overview

1 Elihu spake moreover, and said, 2 Thinkest thou this to be right, that thou saidst, My righteousness is more than God's? 3 For thou saidst, What advantage will it be unto thee? and, What profit shall I have, if I be cleansed from my sin? 4 I will answer thee, and thy companions with thee. 5 Look unto the heavens, and see; and behold the clouds which are higher than thou. 6 If thou sinnest, what doest thou against him? or if thy transgressions be multiplied, what doest thou unto him? 7 If thou be righteous, what givest thou him? or what receiveth he of thine hand? 8 Thy wickedness may hurt a man as thou art; and thy righteousness may profit the son of man.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Thinkest: Matthew 12:36, Matthew 12:37, Luke 19:22

My: Job 9:17, Job 10:7, Job 16:17, Job 19:6, Job 19:7, Job 27:2-6, Job 34:5, Job 40:8

Reciprocal: 1 Samuel 15:20 - Yea Job 4:17 - Shall mortal Job 11:4 - I am clean Job 15:6 - thine own Job 32:2 - because Job 33:12 - thou Job 34:37 - multiplieth Ezekiel 18:25 - way Ezekiel 33:17 - General Matthew 20:13 - I do Luke 9:55 - Ye know Romans 2:3 - thinkest Romans 9:14 - Is there unrighteousness

Cross-References

Genesis 18:19
For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord , to do justice and judgment; that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him.
Genesis 31:19
And Laban went to shear his sheep: and Rachel had stolen the images that were her father's.
Genesis 31:34
Now Rachel had taken the images, and put them in the camel's furniture, and sat upon them. And Laban searched all the tent, but found them not.
Genesis 34:2
And when Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, prince of the country, saw her, he took her, and lay with her, and defiled her.
Genesis 35:1
And God said unto Jacob, Arise, go up to Bethel, and dwell there: and make there an altar unto God, that appeared unto thee when thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother.
Genesis 35:2
Then Jacob said unto his household, and to all that were with him, Put away the strange gods that are among you, and be clean, and change your garments:
Genesis 35:3
And let us arise, and go up to Bethel; and I will make there an altar unto God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which I went.
Genesis 35:4
And they gave unto Jacob all the strange gods which were in their hand, and all their earrings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem.
Genesis 35:7
And he built there an altar, and called the place Elbethel: because there God appeared unto him, when he fled from the face of his brother.
Genesis 35:10
And God said unto him, Thy name is Jacob: thy name shall not be called any more Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name: and he called his name Israel.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Thinkest thou this to be right,.... Elihu appeals to Job himself, to his conscience and reason; who as a natural man, guided by the light of nature and reason only, and judging according to the dictates of a natural conscience, and especially as a good man, one that feared God, and had so much knowledge of him and his perfections, as his speeches showed, could never upon reflection think it right what he had said concerning God and his justice, as follows:

[that] thou saidst, my righteousness [is] more than God's? A strange expression this indeed! but what is to be understood not of his personal righteousness; Job in his senses could never say that this was more or greater than God's, or to be above it and preferred to it in any sense; nor even of righteousness imputed. Old Testament saints had the righteousness of Christ imputed to them, and were justified by it; and so Job, who had knowledge of and faith in Christ as his living Redeemer, and the Lord his righteousness: but then though this is the righteousness of God, wrought out by one that is God as well as man, and approved and accepted of by God, and imputed by him to his people, which is revealed in the Gospel, and is unto all, and upon all them that believe, and they are made the righteousness of God in Christ; yet this cannot be more than the righteousness of God: besides it is not the essential righteousness of Christ as God, as Osiander dreamed, by which men are justified, but his obedience, active and passive, as Mediator, otherwise they would be deified who are justified by it; and if even so absurd a notion as this could obtain, it would not be more of man than the righteousness of God: much less can this be interpreted of Job's inherent righteousness, or the new man which is created in righteousness and true holiness; since all the holiness and righteousness that is in man is from God, and at present imperfect, and therefore cannot be more or greater than his; and still less can this be meant of Job's external righteousness, which, how great soever, was not perfect and without sin; whereas God is just and without iniquity. But there is not a just man that does good and sins not. This therefore must be understood of the righteousness of his cause; and to say that this was more than God's was what he ought not to have said, and more than became him to say: for though a good man may defend himself against the calumnies of his enemies, by asserting his own righteousness, innocence, and integrity, and may desire the Lord to plead his cause against them, and judge him according to his righteousness and the integrity of his heart; but to attempt to make it out, that his cause is more righteous than the Lord's, is doing an ill thing. Now though Job had not expressed this in so many words, yet he had said that from whence this might by consequence be deduced; he had given great occasion for such an inference to be drawn from his speeches; for since he had spoken so largely of his innocence and integrity, and holy life, and of the hard usage nevertheless he had met with from God; and had represented his own case, as if he had behaved so well as to deserve better treatment at the hand of God than to be afflicted in the manner he was; that he had wrong done him, and complained of it, and could not be heard; his judgment was taken from him by the Lord; which was in effect to say, that his cause was better than the Lord's, and would bear a stricter examination than his; which to say was, exceeding bad and unbecoming; see Job 16:17.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Thinkest thou this to be right? - This is the point which Elihu now proposes to examine. He, therefore, solemnly appeals to Job himself to determine whether he could himself say that he thought such a sentiment correct.

That thou saidst, My righteousness is more than God’s - Job had nowhere said this in so many words, but Elihu regarded it as the substance of what he had said, or thought that what he had said amounted to the same thing. He had dwelt much on his own sincerity and uprightness of life; he had maintained that he had not been guilty of such crimes as to make these calamities deserved, and he had indulged in severe reflections on the dealings of God with him; compare Job 9:30-35; Job 10:13-15. All this Elihu interprets as equivalent to saying, that he was more righteous than his Maker. It cannot be denied that Job had given occasion for this interpretation to be put on his sentiments, though it cannot be supposed that he would have affirmed this in so many words.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Job 35:2. My righteousness is more than God's? — This would indeed be a blasphemous saying; but Job never said so, neither directly nor constructively: it would be much better to translate the words צדקי מאל tsidki meel, I am righteous BEFORE God. And Job's meaning most certainly was, "Whatever I am in your sight, I know that in the sight of God I am a righteous man;" and he had a right to assume this character, because God himself had given it to him.


 
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