Will you show partiality to him? Will you contend for God?
Parallel translations
- KJV Will ye accept his person? will ye contend for God?
- BSB Would you show Him partiality or argue in His defense?
- NKJV Will you show partiality for Him? Will you contend for God?
- NASB “Will you show partiality for Him? Will you contend for God?
- NLT Will you slant your testimony in his favor? Will you argue God’s case for him?
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 if his friends will show God favoritism by twisting the truth. God needs no biased advocates.
Overview
Job challenges whether they will 'show partiality to him' and 'contend for God' as if pleading a weak case. Flattering God with falsehood is no service to Him. The all-knowing Judge requires truthful witnesses, not partisans who bend facts in His supposed favor.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Prov 24:23These also are sayings of the wise. To show partiality in judgment is not good.
- Exod 23:2–3“You shall not follow a crowd to do evil. You shall not testify in court to side with a multitude to pervert justice.
- Job 34:19Who doesn’t respect the persons of princes, nor respects the rich more than the poor; for they all are the work of his hands.
- Mal 2:9“Therefore I have also made you contemptible and base before all the people, according to the way you have not kept my ways, but have had respect for persons in the law.
- Job 32:21Please don’t let me respect any man’s person, neither will I give flattering titles to any man.
- Lev 19:15“‘You shall do no injustice in judgment. You shall not be partial to the poor, nor show favoritism to the great; but you shall judge your neighbor in righteousness.
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 13:8 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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