yet my hands are free of violence and my prayer is pure.
Parallel translations
- WEB Although there is no violence in my hands, and my prayer is pure.
- KJV Not for any injustice in mine hands: also my prayer is pure.
- NKJV Although no violence is in my hands, And my prayer is pure.
- NASB Although there is no violence in my hands, And my prayer is pure.
- NLT Yet I have done no wrong, and my prayer is pure.
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 maintains his innocence: there is no violence in his hands and his prayer is pure. He suffers despite real integrity.
Overview
Even in his anguish Job affirms that his conduct is free of wrong and his worship sincere. This is the crux of the book's tension: a genuinely righteous man enduring severe suffering. Job's protest of innocence, vindicated by God himself (Job 1:8), points forward to the wholly innocent Sufferer, Christ, who alone could say with perfect truth that no violence was in his hands (1 Peter 2:22).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 16
- Prov 15:8The sacrifice of the wicked is detestable to the LORD, but the prayer of the upright is His delight.
- Ps 66:18–19If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.
- Job 27:6–7I will cling to my righteousness and never let go. As long as I live, my conscience will not accuse me.
- Job 8:5–6But if you would earnestly seek God and ask the Almighty for mercy,
- Job 31:1–40“I have made a covenant with my eyes. How then could I gaze with desire at a virgin?
- Isa 59:6Their cobwebs cannot be made into clothing, and they cannot cover themselves with their works. Their deeds are sinful deeds, and acts of violence are in their hands.
- Jonah 3:8Furthermore, let both man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and have everyone call out earnestly to God. Let each one turn from his evil ways and from the violence in his hands.
- Job 15:20A wicked man writhes in pain all his days; only a few years are reserved for the ruthless.
- Job 15:34For the company of the godless will be barren, and fire will consume the tents of bribery.
- Ps 7:3–5O LORD my God, if I have done this, if injustice is on my hands,
- Job 11:14if you put away the iniquity in your hand, and allow no injustice to dwell in your tents,
- Ps 44:17–21All this has come upon us, though we have not forgotten You or betrayed Your covenant.
- Job 21:27–28Behold, I know your thoughts full well, the schemes by which you would wrong me.
- Job 29:12–17because I rescued the poor who cried out and the fatherless who had no helper.
- Job 22:5–9Is not your wickedness great? Are not your iniquities endless?
- 1 Tim 2:8Therefore I want the men everywhere to pray, lifting up holy hands, without anger or dissension.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 16:17 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.