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Myles Coverdale Bible
Job 4:17
Bible Study Resources
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- InternationalParallel Translations
“Can a mortal be righteous before God?Can a man be more pure than his Maker?”
'Shall mortal man be more just than God? Shall a man be more pure than his Maker?
Shall mortal man be more just than God? shall a man be more pure than his maker?
‘Can mortal man be in the right before God? Can a man be pure before his Maker?
It said, ‘Can a human be more right than God? Can a person be pure before his maker?
"Is a mortal man righteous before God? Or a man pure before his Creator?
'Can [mortal] man be just before God or be more righteous than He? Can a man be pure before his Maker or be more cleansed than He?
'Can mankind be righteous before God? Can a man be pure before his Maker?
'Shall mortal man be more just than God? Shall a man be more pure than his Maker?
Shall man be more iust then God? or shall a man be more pure then his maker?
‘Can mankind be right before God?Can a man be pure before his Maker?
'Can a mortal be more righteous than God, or a man more pure than his Maker?
"No humans are innocent in the eyes of God their Creator.
‘Can a human be seen by God as righteous? Can a mortal be pure before his maker?
Shall [mortal] man be more just than +God? Shall a man be purer than his Maker?
‘A person cannot be more right than God. People cannot be more pure than their Maker.
Shall mortal man be declared more righteous than God? Shall he be more pure than his Maker?
"Can anyone be righteous in the sight of God or be pure before his Creator?
‘Can a human being be more righteous than God, or can a man be more pure than his Maker?
Is man more righteous than God? Or a strong man be purer than his Maker?
Shall mortal man be more just than God? Shall a man be more pure than his Maker?
May a man be upright before God? or a man be clean before his Maker?
Shall man be more iust then God? or shall a man be purer then his maker?
'Shall mortal man be just before God? Shall a man be pure before his Maker?
Shall mortall man be more iust then God? shall a man bee more pure then his maker?
What, shall a mortal be pure before the Lord? or a man be blameless in regard to his works?
Shall mortal man be more just than God? shall a man be more pure than his Maker?
Whether a man schal be maad iust in comparisoun of God? ethir whethir a man schal be clennere than his Makere?
Shall common man be more just than God? Shall [noble] man be more pure than his Maker?
Shall mortal man be more just than God? shall a man be more pure than his maker?
"Can a mortal be more righteous than God? Can a man be more pure than his Maker?
‘Can a mortal be innocent before God? Can anyone be pure before the Creator?'
‘Can man be right more than God? Can a man be pure more than his Maker?
‘Can mortals be righteous before God? Can human beings be pure before their Maker?
Shall, mortal man, be more just than GOD? Or a man be more pure than, his Maker?
Shall man be justified in comparison of God, or shall a man be more pure than his maker?
'Can mortal man be righteous before God? Can a man be pure before his Maker?
`Is mortal man than God more righteous? Than his Maker is a man cleaner?
"‘How can mere mortals be more righteous than God? How can humans be purer than their Creator? Why, God doesn't even trust his own servants, doesn't even cheer his angels, So how much less these bodies composed of mud, fragile as moths? These bodies of ours are here today and gone tomorrow, and no one even notices—gone without a trace. When the tent stakes are ripped up, the tent collapses— we die and are never the wiser for having lived.'"
'Can mankind be just before God? Can a man be pure before his Maker?
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
Shall mortal: Job 8:3, Job 9:2, Job 35:2, Job 40:8, Genesis 18:25, Psalms 143:2, Psalms 145:17, Ecclesiastes 7:20, Jeremiah 12:1, Romans 2:5, Romans 3:4-7, Romans 9:20, Romans 11:33
shall a man: Job 9:30, Job 9:31, Job 14:4, Job 15:14, Job 25:4, Jeremiah 17:9, Mark 7:20-23, Revelation 4:8
Reciprocal: Job 9:20 - justify
Cross-References
And Abell brought also of the firstlinges of his shepe, and of ye fat of them. And the LORDE had respecte vnto Abell and to his offerynge:
And now shalt thou be cursed vpon the earth, which hath opened hir mouth, and receaued thy brothers bloude of thine hande.
Iared was an hundreth and two & sixtie yeare olde, and begat Henoch:
and led a godly conuersacion thre hundreth yeares therafter, and begat sonnes & doughters.
And sayde: Come, let vs buylde a cite & a tower, whose toppe maye reach vnto heaue, yt we maye make vs a name, afore we be scatred abrode in all londes.
Absalom had set him vp a piler whyle he was yet alyue, which stode in the kynges valley, for he sayde: I haue no sonne, therfore shall this be a remembraunce of my name: and he called the piler after his owne name. And vnto this daie it is yet called Absaloms place.
Loke what is in their houses, it cotinueth still: their dwellinge places endure from one generacion to another, & are called after their owne names vpon the earth,
and sayde: This is the greate cite off Babilo, which I myself (with my power & strength) haue made a kynges courte, for the honoure off my magesty.
Gill's Notes on the Bible
Shall mortal man be more just than God?.... Poor, weak, frail, dying man, and so sinful, as his mortality shows, which is the effect of sin; how should such a man be more righteous than God? who is so originally and essentially of himself, completely, perfectly, yea, infinitely righteous in his nature, and in his works, both of providence and grace; in chastising his people, punishing the wicked, and bestowing favours upon his friends, even in their election, redemption, justification, pardon, and eternal happiness: yea, not only profane wicked sinners can make no pretensions to anything of this kind, but even the best of men, none being without sin, no, not man in his best estate; for the righteousness he had then was of God, and therefore he could not be more just than he that made him upright. This comparative sense, which our version leads to, is more generally received; but it seems not to be the sense of the passage, since this is a truth clear from reason, and needed no vision or revelation to discover it; nor can it be thought that God would send an angelic spirit in such an awful and pompous manner, to declare that which every one knew, and no man would contradict; even the most self-righteous and self-sufficient man would never be so daring and insolent as to say he was more righteous than God; but the words should be rather rendered, "shall mortal man be justified by God, or be just from God?" or "with" him, or "before" him t, in his sight, by any righteousness in him, or done by him? shall he enter into his presence, stand at his bar, and be examined there, and go away from thence, in the sight and account of God, as a righteous person of himself? no, he cannot; now this is a doctrine opposed to carnal reasoning and the common sentiments of men, a doctrine of divine revelation, a precious truth: this is the string of pearls Eliphaz received, see Job 4:12; that mortal man is of himself an unrighteous creature; that he cannot be justified by his own righteousness in the sight of God; and that he must look and seek out for a better righteousness than his own, to justify him before God; and this agrees with Eliphaz's interpretation of the vision, Job 15:14; with the sentiments of his friend Bildad, who seems to have some respect to it, Job 25:4; and also of Job himself, Job 9:2; and in like manner are we to understand the following clause:
shall a man be more pure than his Maker? even the greatest and best of men, since what purity was in Adam, in a state of innocence, was from God; and what good men have, in a state of grace, is from the grace of God and blood of Christ, without which no man is pure at all, and therefore cannot be purer than him from whom they have it: or rather "be pure from", or "with", or "before his Maker" u, or be so accounted by him; every man is impure by his first birth, and in his nature state, and therefore cannot stand before a pure and holy God, who of purer eyes than to behold iniquity; or go away his presence, and be reckoned by him a pure and holy creature of himself; nor can any thing that he can do, in a moral or ceremonial manner, cleanse him from his impurity; and therefore it is necessary he should apply to the grace of God, and blood of Christ, for his purification.
t ××× ×ש ××××× ×צ×ק "an mortalis a Deo justificabitur?" Codurcus' Bolducius, Deodatus, Gussetius, Ebr. Comment. p. 709. "Num mortalis a numine justus erit?" Schultens; so Mr. Broughton, "can the sorrowful man be holden just before the Puissant?" u ×עש×× ×××ר ××ר "an quisquam vir a factore suo mundus habebitur?" Codurcus; "an a conditore suo purus erit vir?" Schultens; so Mr. Broughton, "can the human being be clear before him that was his Maker?"
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
Shall mortal man - Or, shall feeble man. The idea of âmortalâ is not necessarily implied in the word used here, ×× ××©× 'eÌnoÌsh. It means man; and is usually applied to the lower classes or ranks of people; see the notes at Isaiah 8:1. The common opinion in regard to this word is, that it is derived from ×× ×©× 'aÌnash, to be sick, or ill at ease; and then desperate, or incurable - as of a disease or wound; Jeremiah 15:18; Micah 1:9; Job 34:6. Gesenius (Lex) calls this derivation in question; but if it be the correct idea, then the word used here originally referred to man as feeble, and as liable to sickness and calamity. I see no reason to doubt that the common idea is correct, and that it refers to man as weak and feeble. The other word used here to denote man (××ר geber) is given to him on account of his strength. The two words, therefore, embrace man whether considered as feeble or strong - and the idea is, that none of the race could be more pure than God.
Be more just than God - Some expositors have supposed that the sense of this expression in the Hebrew is, âCan man be pure before God, or in the sight of God?â They allege that it could not have been made a question whether man could be more pure than God, or more just than his Maker. Such is the view presented of the passage by Rosenmuller, Good, Noyes, and Umbreit:
âShall mortal man be just before God?
Shall man be pure before his Maker?â
In support of this view, and this use of the Hebrew preposition × (m), Rosenmuller appeals to Jeremiah 51:5; Numbers 32:29; Ezekiel 34:18. This, however, is not wholly satisfactory. The more literal translation is that which occurs in the common version, and this accords with the Vulgate and the Chaldee. If so understood, it is designed to repress and reprove the pride of men, which arraigns the equity of the divine government, and which seems to be wiser and better than God. Thus, understood, it would be a pertinent reproof of Job, who in his complaint Job 3:0 had seemed to be wiser than God. He had impliedly charged him with injustice and lack of goodness. All people who complain against God, and who arraign the equity and goodness of the divine dispensations, claim to be wiser and better than he is. They would have ordered flyings more wisely, and in a better manner. They would have kept the world from the disorders and sins which actually exist, and would have made it pure and happy. How pertinent, therefore, was it to ask whether man could be more pure or just than his Maker! And how pertinent was the solemn question propounded in the hearing of Eliphaz by the celestial messenger - a question that seems to have been originally proposed in view of the complaints and murmurs of a self-confident race!
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
Verse Job 4:17. Shall mortal man — ×× ×ש enosh; Greek βÏοÏοÏ. poor, weak, dying man.
Be more just than God? — Or, ××× ×ש ××××× ×צ×ק haenosh meeloah yitsdak; shall poor, weak, sinful man be justified before God?
Shall a man — ××ר gaber, shall even the strong and mighty man, be pure before his Maker? Is any man, considered merely in and of himself, either holy in his conduct, or pure in his heart? No. He must be justified by the mercy of God, through an atoning sacrifice; he must be sanctified by the Holy Spirit of God, and thus made a partaker of the Divine nature. Then he is justified before God, and pure in the sight of his Maker: and this is a work which God himself alone can do; so the work is not man's work, but God's. It is false to infer, from the words of this spectre, (whether it came from heaven or hell, we know not, for its communication shows and rankles a wound, without providing a cure,) that no man can be justified, and that no man can be purified, when God both justifies the ungodly, and sanctifies the unholy. The meaning can be no more than this: no man can make an atonement for his own sins, nor purify his own heart. Hence all boasting is for ever excluded. Of this Eliphaz believed Job to be guilty, as he appeared to talk of his righteousness and purity, as if they had been his own acquisition.
