Yet a righteous one holds to his way, and the one with clean hands grows stronger.
Parallel translations
- WEB Yet shall the righteous hold on his way. He who has clean hands shall grow stronger and stronger.
- KJV The righteous also shall hold on his way, and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger.
- NKJV Yet the righteous will hold to his way, And he who has clean hands will be stronger and stronger.
- NASB “Nevertheless the righteous will hold to his way, And the one who has clean hands will grow stronger and stronger.
- NLT The righteous keep moving forward, and those with clean hands become stronger and stronger.
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
Yet the righteous person holds to his way and grows stronger; clean hands gain in strength. Perseverance marks true godliness.
Overview
In a rare note of confidence, Job affirms that the righteous will keep to his course and the pure in heart will grow ever stronger. This expresses the enduring nature of true faith under trial. It echoes the promise that those who wait on the Lord renew their strength (Isaiah 40:31), and that the path of the just shines ever brighter (Proverbs 4:18).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 16
- Prov 4:18The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining brighter and brighter until midday.
- Isa 1:15–16When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide My eyes from you; even though you multiply your prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are covered with blood.
- Job 22:30He will deliver even one who is not innocent, rescuing him through the cleanness of your hands.”
- 2 Cor 12:9–10But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest on me.
- Prov 14:16A wise man fears and turns from evil, but a fool is careless and reckless.
- Ps 84:7They go from strength to strength, until each appears before God in Zion.
- Isa 40:29–31He gives power to the faint and increases the strength of the weak.
- Gen 20:5Didn’t Abraham tell me, ‘She is my sister’? And she herself said, ‘He is my brother.’ I have done this in the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands.”
- Ps 26:6I wash my hands in innocence that I may go about Your altar, O LORD,
- Ps 73:13Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure; in innocence I have washed my hands.
- Isa 35:8–10And there will be a highway called the Way of Holiness. The unclean will not travel it—only those who walk in the Way—and fools will not stray onto it.
- Mark 7:2and they saw some of His disciples eating with hands that were defiled—that is, unwashed.
- Ps 84:11For the LORD God is a sun and a shield; the LORD gives grace and glory; He withholds no good thing from those who walk with integrity.
- 1 Pet 1:5who through faith are shielded by God’s power for the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.
- Ps 24:4He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to an idol or swear deceitfully.
- 1 Jn 2:19They went out from us, but they did not belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us. But their departure made it clear that none of them belonged to us.
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 17:9 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.