“For has any said to God, ‘I am guilty, but I will not offend any more.
Parallel translations
- KJV Surely it is meet to be said unto God, I have borne chastisement, 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 Yahweh, because I have sinned against him, until he pleads my case, and executes judgment for me. He will bring me out to the light. I will see his righteousness.
- Job 33:27He sings before men, and says, ‘I have sinned, and perverted that which was right, and it didn’t profit me.
- Lev 26:41I also walked contrary to them, and brought them into the land of their enemies; if then their uncircumcised heart is humbled, and they then accept the punishment of their iniquity;
- Job 40:3–5Then Job answered Yahweh,
- Jer 31:18–19“I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus, ‘You have chastised me, and I was chastised, as an untrained calf: turn me, and I shall be turned; for you are Yahweh my God.
- Ezra 9:13–14“After all that has come on us for our evil deeds, and for our great guilt, since you, our God, have punished us less than our iniquities deserve, and have given us such a remnant,
- Job 42:6Therefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.”
- Dan 9:7–14Lord, righteousness belongs to you, but to us confusion of face, as it is today; to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel, who are near, and who are far off, through all the countries where you have driven them, because of their trespass that they have trespassed against you.
- Neh 9:33–38However you are just in all that has come on us; for you have dealt truly, but we have done wickedly.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
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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 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.