‘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.
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;
- BSB 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.
- 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!
- 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 the deeds of his hands will be paid back to him.
- Job 9:15Though I were righteous, yet I wouldn’t answer him. I would make supplication to my judge.
- Job 9:20–21Though I am righteous, my own mouth shall condemn me. Though I am blameless, it shall prove me perverse.
- Job 10:7Although you know that I am not wicked, there is no one who can deliver out of your hand.
- Isa 6:5Then I said, “Woe is me! For I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell among a people of unclean lips: for my eyes have seen the King, Yahweh of Armies!”
- Mal 3:18Then you shall return and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him who serves God and him who doesn’t serve him.
- Ps 25:18Consider my affliction and my travail. Forgive all my sins.
- Luke 17:10Even so you also, when you have done all the things that are commanded you, say, ‘We are unworthy servants. We have done our duty.’”
- Ps 119:153Consider my affliction, and deliver me, for I don’t forget your law.
- Job 9:12Behold, he snatches away. Who can hinder him? Who will ask him, ‘What are you doing?’
- Rom 2:8–9but to those who are self-seeking, and don’t obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, will be wrath and indignation,
- Ps 9:17The wicked shall be turned back to Sheol, even all the nations that forget God.
- Job 27:7“Let my enemy be as the wicked. Let him who rises up against me be as the unrighteous.
- Lam 5:1–22Remember, Yahweh, what has come on us: Look, and see our reproach.
- Lam 1:20“See, Yahweh; for I am in distress. My heart is troubled. My heart is turned within me, for I have grievously rebelled. Abroad the sword bereaves. At home it is like death.
- Job 9:29I shall be condemned. Why then do I labor in vain?
- Exod 3:7Yahweh said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows.
- Job 21:6When I remember, I am troubled. Horror takes hold of my flesh.
- Isa 64:5–6You meet him who rejoices and does righteousness, those who remember you in your ways. Behold, you were angry, and we sinned. We have been in sin for a long time. Shall we be saved?
- Job 23:15Therefore I am terrified at his presence. When I consider, I am afraid of him.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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.