Surely it is meet to be said unto God, I have borne chastisement, I will not offend any more:
Parallel translations
- WEB “For has any said to God, ‘I am guilty, but I will not offend any more.
- BSB Suppose someone says to God, ‘I have endured my punishment; I will offend no more.
- NKJV “For has anyone said to God, ‘I have borne chastening; I will offend no more;
- NASB ¶“For has anyone said to God, ‘I have endured punishment; I will not offend anymore;
- NLT “Why don’t people say to God, ‘I have sinned, but I will sin no more’?
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
Elihu asks whether anyone, like Job, has rightly come to God confessing guilt and resolving to sin no more. True repentance acknowledges fault and turns from it.
Overview
Elihu presents the model of a humble penitent who says to God, 'I am guilty, I will not offend any more.' His point is that Job has not spoken to God this way but has instead justified himself. The verse upholds the necessity of honest confession, a posture the gospel both demands and enables, for God is faithful to forgive those who confess (1 John 1:9).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Mic 7:9I will bear the indignation of the LORD, because I have sinned against him, until he plead my cause, and execute judgment for me: he will bring me forth to the light, and I shall behold his righteousness.
- Job 33:27He looketh upon men, and if any say, I have sinned, and perverted that which was right, and it profited me not;
- Lev 26:41And that I also have walked contrary unto them, and have brought them into the land of their enemies; if then their uncircumcised hearts be humbled, and they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity:
- Job 40:3–5Then Job answered the LORD, and said,
- Jer 31:18–19I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus; Thou hast chastised me, and I was chastised, as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke: turn thou me, and I shall be turned; for thou art the LORD my God.
- Ezra 9:13–14And after all that is come upon us for our evil deeds, and for our great trespass, seeing that thou our God hast punished us less than our iniquities deserve, and hast given us such deliverance as this;
- Job 42:6Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.
- Dan 9:7–14O LORD, righteousness belongeth unto thee, but unto us confusion of faces, as at this day; to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and unto all Israel, that are near, and that are far off, through all the countries whither thou hast driven them, because of their trespass that they have trespassed against thee.
- Neh 9:33–38Howbeit thou art just in all that is brought upon us; for thou hast done right, but we have done wickedly:
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
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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 34:31 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.