Behold now, I have ordered my cause; I know that I shall be justified.
Parallel translations
- WEB See now, I have set my cause in order. I know that I am righteous.
- BSB Behold, now that I have prepared my case, I know that I will be vindicated.
- NKJV See now, I have prepared my case, I know that I shall be vindicated.
- NASB “Behold now, I have prepared my case; I know that I will be vindicated.
- NLT I have prepared my case; I will be proved innocent.
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 has carefully prepared his case and is confident of vindication. He believes he will be shown righteous.
Overview
Job declares, 'I have set my cause in order; I know that I am righteous,' using courtroom language. He is not claiming sinless perfection but integrity in the matter at hand, that he has not committed the secret sins his friends allege. His confidence rests in a fair hearing before God, whom he trusts to judge truly.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Job 23:4I would order my cause before him, and fill my mouth with arguments.
- Job 9:2–3I know it is so of a truth: but how should man be just with God?
- 2 Cor 1:12For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world, and more abundantly to you-ward.
- Job 9:20If I justify myself, mine own mouth shall condemn me: if I say, I am perfect, it shall also prove me perverse.
- Job 40:7–8Gird up thy loins now like a man: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me.
- Isa 43:26Put me in remembrance: let us plead together: declare thou, that thou mayest be justified.
- Rom 8:33–34Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth.
- Job 16:21O that one might plead for a man with God, as a man pleadeth for his neighbour!
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 13:18 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.