What is man, that he should be pure, or one born of woman, that he should be righteous?
Parallel translations
- WEB What is man, that he should be clean? What is he who is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?
- KJV What is man, that he should be clean? and he which is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?
- NKJV “Whatis man, that he could be pure? And he who is born of a woman, that he could be righteous?
- NASB “What is man, that he would be pure, Or he who is born of a woman, that he would be righteous?
- NLT Can any mortal be pure? Can anyone born of a woman be just?
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
Eliphaz asks how any human, born of woman, could be clean or righteous. He stresses universal human sinfulness.
Overview
Eliphaz asks, 'What is man, that he should be clean? What is he who is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?' The truth he states, that no one is pure before God, is sound and echoes elsewhere in Scripture. Yet he wields it to condemn Job rather than to humble himself, and the gospel answers this need: righteousness comes not from man but as God's gift in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- Eccl 7:20Surely there is no righteous man on earth who does good and never sins.
- Job 14:4Who can bring out clean from unclean? No one!
- Prov 20:9Who can say, “I have kept my heart pure; I am cleansed from my sin”?
- Rom 7:18I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh; for I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out.
- Job 25:4–6How then can a man be just before God? How can one born of woman be pure?
- 1 Kgs 8:46When they sin against You—for there is no one who does not sin—and You become angry with them and deliver them to an enemy who takes them as captives to his own land, whether far or near,
- Ps 14:3All have turned away, they have together become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one.
- 1 Jn 1:8–10If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
- Ps 51:5Surely I was brought forth in iniquity; I was sinful when my mother conceived me.
- Job 9:2“Yes, I know that it is so, but how can a mortal be righteous before God?
- Eccl 7:29Only this have I found: I have discovered that God made men upright, but they have sought out many schemes.”
- Eph 2:2–3in which you used to walk when you conformed to the ways of this world and of the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit who is now at work in the sons of disobedience.
- 2 Chr 6:36When they sin against You—for there is no one who does not sin—and You become angry with them and deliver them to an enemy who takes them as captives to a land far or near,
- John 3:6Flesh is born of flesh, but spirit is born of the Spirit.
- Gal 3:22But the Scripture pronounces all things confined by sin, so that by faith in Jesus Christ the promise might be given to those who believe.
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 15:14 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.