The righteous keep moving forward, and those with clean hands become stronger and 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.
- 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.
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 righteous is like the dawning light, that shines more and more until the perfect day.
- Isa 1:15–16When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you. Yes, when you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood.
- Job 22:30He will even deliver him who is not innocent. Yes, he shall be delivered through the cleanness of your hands.”
- 2 Cor 12:9–10He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Most gladly therefore I will rather glory in my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest on me.
- Prov 14:16A wise man fears and shuns evil, but the fool is hot headed and reckless.
- Ps 84:7They go from strength to strength. Everyone of them appears before God in Zion.
- Isa 40:29–31He gives power to the weak. He increases the strength of him who has no might.
- Gen 20:5Didn’t he tell me, ‘She is my sister?’ She, even she herself, said, ‘He is my brother.’ In the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands I have done this.”
- Ps 26:6I will wash my hands in innocence, so I will go about your altar, Yahweh;
- Ps 73:13Surely I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocence,
- Isa 35:8–10A highway will be there, a road, and it will be called The Holy Way. The unclean shall not pass over it, but it will be for those who walk in the Way. Wicked fools will not go there.
- Mark 7:2Now when they saw some of his disciples eating bread with defiled, that is unwashed, hands, they found fault.
- Ps 84:11For Yahweh God is a sun and a shield. Yahweh will give grace and glory. He withholds no good thing from those who walk blamelessly.
- 1 Pet 1:5who by the power of God are guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
- Ps 24:4He who has clean hands and a pure heart; who has not lifted up his soul to falsehood, and has not sworn deceitfully.
- 1 Jn 2:19They went out from us, but they didn’t belong to us; for if they had belonged to us, they would have continued with us. But they left, that they might be revealed that none of them belong to 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.