For what has God above chosen for us? What is our inheritance from the Almighty on high?
Parallel translations
- WEB For what is the portion from God above, and the heritage from the Almighty on high?
- KJV For what portion of God is there from above? and what inheritance of the Almighty from on high?
- BSB For what is the allotment of God from above, or the heritage from the Almighty on high?
- NKJV For what is the allotment of God from above, And the inheritance of the Almighty from on high?
- NASB “And what is the portion of God from above, Or the inheritance of the Almighty from on high?
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 asks what portion God assigns from above for such sin. He reminds himself that God is the one who allots reward and punishment.
Overview
Job grounds his commitment to purity in the conviction that God determines the inheritance and recompense each person receives from on high. The rhetorical question implies that sin invites God's judgment as one's portion. This reverent awareness of divine accountability undergirds true holiness, and it points to the gospel, where Christ takes the portion of judgment due to sinners so that believers may receive the inheritance of grace.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 3
- Job 20:29This is the portion of a wicked man from God, the heritage appointed to him by God.”
- Heb 13:4Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the bed be undefiled: but God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers.
- Job 27:13“This is the portion of a wicked man with God, the heritage of oppressors, which they receive from the Almighty.
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 31:2 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.