This also would be an iniquity deserving of judgment, For I would have denied God who is above.
Parallel translations
- WEB this also would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges; for I should have denied the God who is above.
- KJV This also were an iniquity to be punished by the judge: for I should have denied the God that is above.
- BSB this would also be an iniquity to be judged, for I would have denied God on high.
- NASB That too would have been a guilty deed calling for judgment, For I would have denied God above.
- NLT If so, I should be punished by the judges, for it would mean I had denied the God of heaven.
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 calls such idolatry an iniquity deserving judgment, for it would deny the God who is above. He recognizes idolatry as a betrayal of the true God.
Overview
Job declares that secret worship of the heavenly bodies would be a punishable sin because it denies the sovereign God who reigns above all. Idolatry is fundamentally treason against the Creator. This sober judgment underscores the exclusive claim God has on human worship, a claim honored perfectly by Christ, who worshiped the Father alone and through whom right worship is restored to fallen humanity.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 16
- Job 31:11For that would be a heinous crime. Yes, it would be an iniquity to be punished by the judges:
- Deut 17:2–7If there is found among you, within any of your gates which Yahweh your God gives you, a man or woman who does that which is evil in Yahweh your God’s sight, in transgressing his covenant,
- Ps 50:6The heavens shall declare his righteousness, for God himself is judge. Selah.
- Job 9:15Though I were righteous, yet I wouldn’t answer him. I would make supplication to my judge.
- Josh 24:27Joshua said to all the people, “Behold, this stone shall be a witness against us, for it has heard all Yahweh’s words which he spoke to us. It shall be therefore a witness against you, lest you deny your God.”
- Deut 17:9You shall come to the priests who are Levites, and to the judge who shall be in those days. You shall inquire, and they shall give you the verdict.
- Job 23:7There the upright might reason with him, so I should be delivered forever from my judge.
- Judg 11:27I therefore have not sinned against you, but you do me wrong to war against me. May Yahweh the Judge be judge today between the children of Israel and the children of Ammon.”
- Gen 18:25Be it far from you to do things like that, to kill the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be like the wicked. May that be far from you. Shouldn’t the Judge of all the earth do right?”
- Josh 24:23“Now therefore put away the foreign gods which are among you, and incline your heart to Yahweh, the God of Israel.”
- Prov 30:9lest I be full, deny you, and say, ‘Who is Yahweh?’ or lest I be poor, and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God.
- Heb 12:23to the festal gathering and assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect,
- Titus 1:16They profess that they know God, but by their deeds they deny him, being abominable, disobedient, and unfit for any good work.
- Jude 1:4For there are certain men who crept in secretly, even those who were long ago written about for this condemnation: ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into indecency, and denying our only Master, God, and Lord, Jesus Christ.
- 2 Pet 2:1But false prophets also arose among the people, as false teachers will also be among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, denying even the Master who bought them, bringing on themselves swift destruction.
- 1 Jn 2:23Whoever denies the Son, the same doesn’t have the Father. He who confesses the Son has the Father also.
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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 31:28 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.