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If He should set His heart on it, If He should gather to Himself His Spirit and His breath,
Job 34:14 · New King James Version
Parallel translations
  • WEB If he set his heart on himself, If he gathered to himself his spirit and his breath,
  • KJV If he set his heart upon man, if he gather unto himself his spirit and his breath;
  • BSB If He were to set His heart to it and withdraw His Spirit and breath,
  • NASB “If He were to determine to do so, If He were to gather His spirit and His breath to Himself,
  • NLT If God were to take back his spirit and withdraw his breath,

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

Israel must worship no other god, for Yahweh's name is Jealous and He is a jealous God. God rightly claims the exclusive devotion of His people.

Overview

God's jealousy is His holy zeal for the undivided love of those He has redeemed, like a husband's rightful claim on his spouse. This is the heart of the first commandment and the antidote to the calf's idolatry. It reveals that God desires not mere ritual but our whole-hearted love, fully ours to give because of Christ.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 4

  • Ps 104:29You hide your face: they are troubled; you take away their breath: they die, and return to the dust.
  • Job 9:4God who is wise in heart, and mighty in strength: who has hardened himself against him, and prospered?
  • Job 7:17What is man, that you should magnify him, that you should set your mind on him,
  • Isa 24:22They shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison; and after many days shall they be visited.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (3)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Job videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Job 34:14YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on JobMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    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 34:14 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.