The righteous also shall hold on his way, and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger.
Parallel translations
- WEB Yet shall the righteous hold on his way. He who has clean hands shall grow stronger and stronger.
- BSB Yet a righteous one holds to his way, and the one with clean hands grows 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 4:18But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.
- Isa 1:15–16And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood.
- Job 22:30He shall deliver the island of the innocent: and it is delivered by the pureness of thine hands.
- 2 Cor 12:9–10And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
- Prov 14:16A wise man feareth, and departeth from evil: but the fool rageth, and is confident.
- Ps 84:7They go from strength to strength, every one of them in Zion appeareth before God.
- Isa 40:29–31He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.
- Gen 20:5Said he not unto me, She is my sister? and she, even she herself said, He is my brother: in the integrity of my heart and innocency of my hands have I done this.
- Ps 26:6I will wash mine hands in innocency: so will I compass thine altar, O LORD:
- Ps 73:13Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency.
- Isa 35:8–10And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein.
- Mark 7:2And when they saw some of his disciples eat bread with defiled, that is to say, with unwashen, hands, they found fault.
- Ps 84:11For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.
- 1 Pet 1:5Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
- Ps 24:4He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.
- 1 Jn 2:19They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.
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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.