Does it please You to oppress me, to reject the work of Your hands and favor the schemes of the wicked?
Parallel translations
- WEB Is it good to you that you should oppress, that you should despise the work of your hands, and smile on the counsel of the wicked?
- KJV Is it good unto thee that thou shouldest oppress, that thou shouldest despise the work of thine hands, and shine upon the counsel of the wicked?
- NKJV Does it seem good to You that You should oppress, That You should despise the work of Your hands, And smile on the counsel of the wicked?
- NASB ‘Is it right for You indeed to oppress, To reject the work of Your hands, And to look favorably on the plan of the wicked?
- NLT What do you gain by oppressing me? Why do you reject me, the work of your own hands, while smiling on the schemes of the wicked?
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 questions whether it pleases God to oppress the work of His own hands while favoring the wicked. He appeals to God's character against his experience.
Overview
Job cannot reconcile God's apparent oppression of him, His own creature, with God's goodness, especially while the wicked seem to prosper. He rightly assumes God does not delight in crushing what He has made. This tension is ultimately resolved at the cross, where God's justice and love meet, and in the final judgment that sets all things right (Romans 3:26).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 18
- Isa 64:8But now, O LORD, You are our Father; we are the clay, and You are the potter; we are all the work of Your hand.
- Ps 138:8The LORD will fulfill His purpose for me. O LORD, Your loving devotion endures forever—do not abandon the works of Your hands.
- Job 14:15You will call, and I will answer; You will desire the work of Your hands.
- Jer 12:1–3Righteous are You, O LORD, when I plead before You. Yet about Your judgments I wish to contend with You: Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all the faithless live at ease?
- Job 34:18–19who says to kings, ‘You are worthless!’ and to nobles, ‘You are wicked,’
- Job 22:18But it was He who filled their houses with good things; so I stay far from the counsel of the wicked.
- 1 Pet 4:19So then, those who suffer according to God’s will should entrust their souls to their faithful Creator and continue to do good.
- Job 34:5–7For Job has declared, ‘I am righteous, yet God has deprived me of justice.
- Job 9:24The earth is given into the hand of the wicked; He blindfolds its judges. If it is not He, then who is it?
- Lam 3:2–18He has driven me away and made me walk in darkness instead of light.
- Job 36:7–9He does not take His eyes off the righteous, but He enthrones them with kings and exalts them forever.
- Job 9:22It is all the same, and so I say, ‘He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.’
- Job 21:16Still, their prosperity is not in their own hands, so I stay far from the counsel of the wicked.
- Ps 69:33For the LORD listens to the needy and does not despise His captive people.
- Job 40:2“Will the faultfinder contend with the Almighty? Let him who argues with God give an answer.”
- Job 8:20Behold, God does not reject the blameless, nor will He strengthen the hand of evildoers.
- Job 40:8Would you really annul My justice? Would you condemn Me to justify yourself?
- Job 36:17–18But now you are laden with the judgment due the wicked; judgment and justice have seized you.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
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 10:3 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.