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My transgression is sealed up in a bag, and thou sewest up mine iniquity.
Job 14:17 · King James Version
Parallel translations
  • WEB My disobedience is sealed up in a bag. You fasten up my iniquity.
  • BSB My transgression would be sealed in a bag, and You would cover over my iniquity.
  • NKJV My transgression is sealed up in a bag, And You cover my iniquity.
  • NASB “My wrongdoing is sealed up in a bag, And You cover over my guilt.
  • NLT My sins would be sealed in a pouch, and you would cover my guilt.

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 feels his sins are sealed up and stored against him. He senses his offenses carefully kept on record.

Overview

Job pictures his transgression 'sealed up in a bag' and his iniquity fastened up, as if God preserves his sins for reckoning. He feels his failings are not forgiven but filed away. This stands in poignant contrast to the gospel, where God removes the sins of His people as far as the east is from the west through Christ.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 3

  • Deut 32:34Is not this laid up in store with me, and sealed up among my treasures?
  • Hos 13:12The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up; his sin is hid.
  • Job 21:19God layeth up his iniquity for his children: he rewardeth him, and he shall know it.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (1)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Job videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Job 14:17YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on JobMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    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 14:17 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.