O that one might plead for a man with God, as a man pleadeth for his neighbour!
Parallel translations
- WEB that he would maintain the right of a man with God, of a son of man with his neighbor!
- BSB Oh, that a man might plead with God as he pleads with his neighbor!
- NKJV Oh, that one might plead for a man with God, As a man pleads for his neighbor!
- NASB That one might plead for a man with God As a son of man with his neighbor!
- NLT I need someone to mediate between God and me, as a person mediates between friends.
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 longs for someone to plead his case with God, as one might for a friend. He yearns for a mediator between himself and God.
Overview
Job voices a deep desire that one would maintain his right with God, arguing his cause as a man pleads for his neighbor. This expresses the felt need for a mediator who can stand between the sufferer and the Almighty. The longing is answered fully in Christ, the one mediator between God and men (1 Timothy 2:5), who represents his people before God.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Eccl 6:10That which hath been is named already, and it is known that it is man: neither may he contend with him that is mightier than he.
- Rom 9:20Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?
- Isa 45:9Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it, What makest thou? or thy work, He hath no hands?
- Job 13:3Surely I would speak to the Almighty, and I desire to reason with God.
- Job 13:22Then call thou, and I will answer: or let me speak, and answer thou me.
- Job 9:34–35Let him take his rod away from me, and let not his fear terrify me:
- Job 40:1–5Moreover the LORD answered Job, and said,
- Job 23:3–7Oh that I knew where I might find him! that I might come even to his seat!
- Job 31:35Oh that one would hear me! behold, my desire is, that the Almighty would answer me, and that mine adversary had written a book.
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 16:21 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.