I will say unto God, Do not condemn me; shew me wherefore thou contendest with me.
Parallel translations
- WEB I will tell God, ‘Do not condemn me. Show me why you contend with me.
- BSB I will say to God: Do not condemn me! Let me know why You prosecute me.
- NKJV I will say to God, ‘Do not condemn me; Show me why You contend with me.
- NASB “I will say to God, ‘Do not condemn me; Let me know why You contend with me.
- NLT I will say to God, ‘Don’t simply condemn me— tell me the charge you are bringing against me.
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
Job asks God not to condemn him without showing him the reason for the dispute. He pleads to understand why God seems to contend against him.
Overview
Rather than turn from God, Job turns toward Him, asking to know the charge behind his suffering. His request shows faith mingled with confusion, seeking God's own explanation. The reader knows the contest in heaven that Job cannot see, a reminder that God's hidden purposes are wise even when unexplained (Job 1-2; Romans 11:33).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Ps 139:23–24Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts:
- Job 9:29If I be wicked, why then labour I in vain?
- Ps 143:2And enter not into judgment with thy servant: for in thy sight shall no man living be justified.
- Rom 8:1There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
- Ps 38:1–8O LORD, rebuke me not in thy wrath: neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure.
- Job 8:5–6If thou wouldest seek unto God betimes, and make thy supplication to the Almighty;
- Ps 6:1–4O LORD, rebuke me not in thine anger, neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure.
- 1 Cor 11:31–32For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.
- Job 34:31–32Surely it is meet to be said unto God, I have borne chastisement, I will not offend any more:
- Lam 5:16–17The crown is fallen from our head: woe unto us, that we have sinned!
- Ps 25:7Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions: according to thy mercy remember thou me for thy goodness’ sake, O LORD.
- Ps 109:21But do thou for me, O GOD the Lord, for thy name’s sake: because thy mercy is good, deliver thou me.
- Lam 3:40–42Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the LORD.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Commentaries & study tools
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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 10:2 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.