If I am guilty, woe to me! And even if I am righteous, I cannot lift my head. I am full of shame and aware of my affliction.
Parallel translations
- WEB If I am wicked, woe to me. If I am righteous, I still shall not lift up my head, being filled with disgrace, and conscious of my affliction.
- KJV If I be wicked, woe unto me; and if I be righteous, yet will I not lift up my head. I am full of confusion; therefore see thou mine affliction;
- NKJV If I am wicked, woe to me; Even if I am righteous, I cannot lift up my head. I am full of disgrace; See my misery!
- NASB ‘If I am wicked, woe to me! But if I am righteous, I dare not lift up my head. I am full of shame, and conscious of my misery.
- NLT If I am guilty, too bad for me; and even if I’m innocent, I can’t hold my head high, because I am filled with shame and misery.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Whether wicked or righteous, Job feels condemned and filled with shame and affliction. He sees no relief in either verdict.
Overview
Job laments that guilt would bring woe, yet even innocence brings him no relief, only disgrace and misery. His words capture the despair of one who cannot find footing before God's apparent hostility. This hopeless impasse magnifies the need for a righteousness from outside ourselves, which God supplies in Christ alone (Philippians 3:9; 2 Corinthians 5:21).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 20
- Isa 3:11Woe to the wicked; disaster is upon them! For they will be repaid with what their hands have done.
- Job 9:15For even if I were right, I could not answer. I could only beg my Judge for mercy.
- Job 9:20–21Even if I were righteous, my mouth would condemn me; if I were blameless, it would declare me guilty.
- Job 10:7though You know that I am not guilty, and there is no deliverance from Your hand?
- Isa 6:5Then I said: “Woe is me, for I am ruined, because I am a man of unclean lips dwelling among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of Hosts.”
- Mal 3:18So you will again distinguish between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not.”
- Ps 25:18Consider my affliction and trouble, and take away all my sins.
- Luke 17:10So you also, when you have done everything commanded of you, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’”
- Ps 119:153Look upon my affliction and rescue me, for I have not forgotten Your law.
- Job 9:12If He takes away, who can stop Him? Who dares to ask Him, ‘What are You doing?’
- Rom 2:8–9But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow wickedness, there will be wrath and anger.
- Ps 9:17The wicked will return to Sheol—all the nations who forget God.
- Job 27:7May my enemy be like the wicked and my opponent like the unjust.
- Lam 5:1–22Remember, O LORD, what has happened to us. Look and see our disgrace!
- Lam 1:20See, O LORD, how distressed I am! I am churning within; my heart is pounding within me, for I have been most rebellious. Outside, the sword bereaves; inside, there is death.
- Job 9:29Since I am already found guilty, why should I labor in vain?
- Exod 3:7The LORD said, “I have indeed seen the affliction of My people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their oppressors, and I am aware of their sufferings.
- Job 21:6When I remember, terror takes hold, and my body trembles in horror.
- Isa 64:5–6You welcome those who gladly do right, who remember Your ways. Surely You were angry, for we sinned. How can we be saved if we remain in our sins?
- Job 23:15Therefore I am terrified in His presence; when I consider this, I fear Him.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Job's cry for a mediator who can lay his hand on both God and man, and his confidence that 'my Redeemer lives' and will stand on the earth, reaches forward to Jesus the living Redeemer.
How Job 10:15 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.