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New Century Version

Job 35:3

but you also ask, ‘What's the use? I don't gain anything by not sinning.'

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Infidelity;   Man;  

Dictionaries:

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

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Advantage;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
For you ask, “What does it profit you,and what benefit comes to me, if I do not sin?”
Hebrew Names Version
That you ask, 'What advantage will it be to you? What profit shall I have, more than if I had sinned?'
King James Version
For thou saidst, What advantage will it be unto thee? and, What profit shall I have, if I be cleansed from my sin?
English Standard Version
that you ask, ‘What advantage have I? How am I better off than if I had sinned?'
New English Translation
But you say, ‘What will it profit you,' and, ‘What do I gain by not sinning?'
Amplified Bible
"For you say, 'What advantage have you [by living a righteous life]? What profit will I have, more [by being righteous] than if I had sinned?'
New American Standard Bible
"For you say, 'What advantage will it be to You? What benefit will I have, more than if I had sinned?'
World English Bible
That you ask, 'What advantage will it be to you? What profit shall I have, more than if I had sinned?'
Geneva Bible (1587)
For thou hast said, What profiteth it thee and what auaileth it me, to purge me fro my sinne?
Legacy Standard Bible
For you say, ‘What use will it be to You?What profit will I have, more than if I had sinned?'
Berean Standard Bible
For you ask, 'What does it profit me, and what benefit do I gain apart from sin?'
Contemporary English Version
Don't you honestly believe it pays to obey him?
Complete Jewish Bible
For you ask what advantage it is to you, ‘How do I gain from not sinning?'
Darby Translation
For thou hast asked of what profit it is unto thee: what do I gain more than if I had sinned?
Easy-to-Read Version
because you also ask him, ‘What's the use of trying to please you? What good will it do me if I don't sin?'
George Lamsa Translation
If you have said it, what advantage will it be to you? And what should I gain if I should condemn you?
Good News Translation
or to ask God, "How does my sin affect you? What have I gained by not sinning?"
Lexham English Bible
If you ask what it profits you: ‘How do I benefit by refraining from my sin?'
Literal Translation
For you say, What will it benefit you? What shall I profit more than if I had sinned?
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Seinge thou sayest so, how doest thou knowe it? What thinge hast thou more excellet, the I yt am a synner?
American Standard Version
That thou sayest, What advantage will it be unto thee? And, What profit shall I have, more than if I had sinned?
Bible in Basic English
What profit is it to me, and how am I better off than if I had done wrong?
JPS Old Testament (1917)
That thou inquirest: 'What advantage will it be unto Thee?' And: 'What profit shall I have, more than if I had sinned?'
King James Version (1611)
For thou saydst, what aduantage will it bee vnto thee, and, what profite shall I haue, if I bee cleansed from my sinne?
Bishop's Bible (1568)
For thou sayest: what aduauntage wyll it be vnto thee, and what profite shall I haue of my sinne?
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
I will answer thee, and thy three friends.
English Revised Version
That thou sayest, What advantage will it be unto thee? and, What profit shall I have, more than if I had sinned?
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
For thou seidist, That, that is good, plesith not thee; ethir what profitith it to thee, if Y do synne?
Update Bible Version
That you say, What advantage will it be to you? [And], What profit shall I have, more than if I had sinned?
Webster's Bible Translation
For thou saidst, What advantage will it be to thee? [and], What profit shall I have, [if I be cleansed] from my sin?
New King James Version
For you say, "What advantage will it be to You? What profit shall I have, more than if I had sinned?'
New Living Translation
For you also ask, ‘What's in it for me? What's the use of living a righteous life?'
New Life Bible
For you ask, ‘What will You get by it? How will it be better for me than if I had sinned?'
New Revised Standard
If you ask, ‘What advantage have I? How am I better off than if I had sinned?'
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
For thou dost say, How can one profit by thee? How can I benefit, more than by my sin?
Douay-Rheims Bible
For thou saidst: That which is right doth not please thee: or what will it profit thee if I sin?
Revised Standard Version
that you ask, 'What advantage have I? How am I better off than if I had sinned?'
Young's Literal Translation
For thou sayest, `What doth it profit Thee! What do I profit from my sin?'
New American Standard Bible (1995)
"For you say, 'What advantage will it be to You? What profit will I have, more than if I had sinned?'

Contextual Overview

1 Then Elihu said: 2 "Do you think this is fair? You say, ‘God will show that I am right,' 3 but you also ask, ‘What's the use? I don't gain anything by not sinning.' 4 "I will answer you and your friends who are with you. 5 Look up at the sky and see the clouds so high above you. 6 If you sin, it does nothing to God; even if your sins are many, they do nothing to him. 7 If you are good, you give nothing to God; he receives nothing from your hand. 8 Your evil ways only hurt others like yourself, and the good you do only helps other human beings.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

what advantage: Job 9:21, Job 9:22, Job 10:15, Job 21:15, Job 31:2, Job 34:9, Psalms 73:13, Malachi 3:14

If I be cleansed from my sin: or, by it more than by my sin

Reciprocal: Job 15:6 - thine own Job 32:17 - General Job 34:37 - multiplieth Job 36:21 - this Job 40:8 - wilt thou condemn 1 Corinthians 15:32 - what

Cross-References

Genesis 28:15
I am with you and will protect you everywhere you go and will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you."
Genesis 31:3
The Lord said to Jacob, "Go back to the land where your ancestors lived, and I will be with you."
Genesis 31:42
But the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac, was with me. Otherwise, you would have sent me away with nothing. But he saw the trouble I had and the hard work I did, and last night he corrected you."
Genesis 32:7
Then Jacob was very afraid and worried. He divided the people who were with him and all the flocks, herds, and camels into two camps.
Genesis 32:24
So Jacob was alone, and a man came and wrestled with him until the sun came up.
Genesis 35:1
God said to Jacob, "Go to the city of Bethel and live there. Make an altar to the God who appeared to you there when you were running away from your brother Esau."
Genesis 35:2
So Jacob said to his family and to all who were with him, "Put away the foreign gods you have, and make yourselves clean, and change your clothes.
Genesis 35:5
Then Jacob and his sons left there. But God caused the people in the nearby cities to be afraid, so they did not follow them.
Genesis 35:12
The same land I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you and your descendants."
Genesis 35:13
Then God left him.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

For thou saidst, what advantage will it be unto thee?.... Meaning that his righteousness, his holy life and conversation, were of no avail to him: he received no more benefit by being righteous than if he was wicked, since God destroyed one as well as another; and since his righteousness did not secure him from afflictions and calamities, it was of no advantage to him; he had not said so in so many words, but it is inferred from what he had said, Job 9:22. Man's own righteousness is of no advantage to him as to justification before God, and acceptance with him, nor in the business of salvation, or with respect to heaven and happiness, so as to give a right and title to it; bat is of great advantage in other respects; is for self-defence against the imputations and calumnies of wicked men; it makes a man honourable and respectable among men, when to live a vicious course of life is scandalous and reproachful; it gives pleasure and satisfaction to the mind, the testimony of a good conscience is matter of rejoicing; and such a man is free from the racks and tortures of an evil conscience others are distressed with; besides, good works are an evidence of the truth and genuineness of faith to others, and ornament the doctrines of the Gospel and a profession of them: and though a righteous man may be afflicted as others, yet in a different manner, in love and not in wrath, and always for his good;

[and], what profit shall one have, [if I be cleansed] from my sin? The words, "if I be cleansed", are a supplement, and seem necessary; so Mr. Broughton supplies. Sin is of a defiling nature, yet man may be cleansed from it, not by anything he can do, but only by the grace of. God and blood of Christ; and from such a cleansing profit arises. This fits a man for the service and worship of God, and for communion with him; gives him peace of mind, and makes him meet for heaven. This Job had not expressly said, and not at all in this sense, but it seems to be inferred from Job 9:29; where he is speaking of outward purity of life, and yet was plunged into the ditch of afflictions. Some render the words to this sense, as if there was no profit "by expiation of atonement for sin" u; the same word signifying both sin and atonement for it: there is none but by the blood and sacrifice of Christ, and much profit arises from that; pardon of sin proceeds upon it, and this furnishes out much solid peace, joy, and comfort, Romans 5:10. Others, what profit by punishment for sin w, unless to God? so sin is sometimes put for punishment; or through leaving sin and repenting of it x. Now though these are not the causes of the pardon of sin, yet it is given and applied to such who do repent of it, confess and forsake it, Proverbs 28:13. Or by being "without sin" y: no man is without sin; but a man may be without any gross and enormous crime he is chargeable with, or without living a vicious course of life; and this is profitable, as has been before observed. Jarchi's paraphrase is,

"what shall I profit more by my righteousness than by my sin?''

which sense is followed by others: I may as well be wicked as righteous; I am not the better for it, since I am afflicted in the manner I am: my righteousness is of no profit to me; if to any, it is to God. To this Elihu returns an answer in the following verses.

u מחטאתי "de expiatione mea", Mercerus, c. "in expiando peccatum", Grotius חטאה "pro piaculo venit", Cocceius; so Simeon Bar Tzemach in loc. w "Supplicio meo", Junius Tremellius "mucta pro illo aut poena", Cocceius; "ex poena peccati mei", Drusius; so Ben Gersom. x "Subaudi relicto", so Mercerus, Drusius; "remisso et per poenitentiam diluto", Munster. y "Absque peccato", i.e. "ita vivendo ut non perccom"; so some in Michaelis.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

For thou saidst - Another sentiment of a similar kind which Elihu proposes to examine. He had already adverted to this sentiment of Job in Job 34:9, and examined it at some length, and had shown in reply to it that God could not be unjust, and that there was great impropriety when man presumed to arraign the justice of the Most High. He now adverts to it again in order to show that God could not be benefited or injured by the conduct of man, and that he was, therefore, under no inducement to treat him otherwise than impartially.

What advantage will it be unto thee? - see the notes at Job 34:9. The phrase “unto thee,” refers to Job himself. He had said this to himself; or to his own soul. Such a mode of expression is not uncommon in the Scriptures.

And, What profit shall I have if I be cleansed from my sin - Margin, “or, by it” more than by my sin.”” The Hebrew will admit of either of these interpretations, and the sense is not materially varied. The idea is, that as to good treatment or securing the favor of God under the arrangements of his government, a man might just as well be wicked as righteous. He would be as likely to be prosperous in the world, and to experience the tokens of the divine favor. Job had by no means advanced such a sentiment; but he had maintained that he was treated “as if” he were a sinner; that the dealings of Providence were “not” in this world in accordance with the character of people; and this was interpreted by Elihu as maintaining that there was no advantage in being righteous, or that a man might as well be a sinner. It was for such supposed sentiments as these, that Elihu and the three friends of Job charged him with giving “answers” for wicked people, or maintaining opinions which went to sustain and encourage the wicked; see Job 34:36.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Job 35:3. What advantage will it be unto thee? — As if he had said to God, "My righteousness cannot profit thee, nor do I find that it is of any benefit to myself." Or perhaps Elihu makes here a general assertion, which he afterwards endeavours to exemplify: Thou hast been reasoning how it may profit thee, and thou hast said, "What profit shall I have in righteousness more than in sin?"


 
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