Even if I have truly gone astray, my error concerns me alone.
Parallel translations
- WEB If it is true that I have erred, my error remains with myself.
- KJV And be it indeed that I have erred, mine error remaineth with myself.
- NKJV And if indeed I have erred, My error remains with me.
- NASB “Even if I have truly done wrong, My error stays with me.
- NLT Even if I have sinned, that is my concern, not yours.
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 grants that even if he has erred, the matter is his own concern, not grounds for their attack. He denies they have a right to condemn him.
Overview
Job argues that any fault of his is a private matter between him and God, not something his friends are entitled to seize upon. He rejects their assumption that his suffering exposes hidden sin they must expose. The exchange highlights how only God truly searches the heart, and how presuming to judge another's standing oversteps human authority (Romans 14:4).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Ezek 18:4Behold, every soul belongs to Me; both father and son are Mine. The soul who sins is the one who will die.
- 2 Cor 5:10For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive his due for the things done in the body, whether good or bad.
- Prov 9:12If you are wise, you are wise to your own advantage; but if you scoff, you alone will bear the consequences.
- 2 Sam 24:17When David saw the angel striking down the people, he said to the LORD, “Surely I, the shepherd, have sinned and acted wickedly. But these sheep, what have they done? Please, let Your hand fall upon me and my father’s house.”
- Gal 6:5For each one should carry his own load.
- Job 11:3–6Should your babbling put others to silence? Will you scoff without rebuke?
Resources, by level
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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 19:4 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.