Will you speak unrighteously for God, and talk deceitfully for him?
Parallel translations
- KJV Will ye speak wickedly for God? and talk deceitfully for him?
- BSB Will you speak wickedly on God’s behalf or speak deceitfully for Him?
- NKJV Will you speak wickedly for God, And talk deceitfully for Him?
- NASB “Will you speak what is unjust for God, And speak what is deceitful for Him?
- NLT “Are you defending God with lies? Do you make your dishonest arguments for his sake?
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 warns that his friends are defending God with lies. Speaking falsehood, even on God's behalf, is still wickedness.
Overview
Job asks pointedly whether they will 'speak unrighteously for God' and 'talk deceitfully for him.' Their zeal to vindicate God has led them to distort the truth about Job and about God's ways. The verse is a sober reminder that God is not honored by dishonest arguments made in His name.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Job 36:4For truly my words are not false. One who is perfect in knowledge is with you.
- Job 27:4surely my lips shall not speak unrighteousness, neither shall my tongue utter deceit.
- 2 Cor 4:2But we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by the manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.
- John 16:2They will put you out of the synagogues. Yes, the time comes that whoever kills you will think that he offers service to God.
- Job 11:2–4“Shouldn’t the multitude of words be answered? Should a man full of talk be justified?
- Job 17:5He who denounces his friends for plunder, Even the eyes of his children shall fail.
- Job 4:7“Remember, now, whoever perished, being innocent? Or where were the upright cut off?
- Job 32:21–22Please don’t let me respect any man’s person, neither will I give flattering titles to any man.
- Rom 3:5–8But if our unrighteousness commends the righteousness of God, what will we say? Is God unrighteous who inflicts wrath? I speak like men do.
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 13:7 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
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