Thinkest thou this to be right, that thou saidst, My righteousness is more than God’s?
Parallel translations
- WEB “Do you think this to be your right, or do you say, ‘My righteousness is more than God’s,’
- BSB “Do you think this is just? You say, ‘I am more righteous than God.’
- NKJV “Do you think this is right? Do you say, ‘My righteousness is more than God’s’?
- NASB “Do you think this is in accordance with justice? Do you say, ‘My righteousness is more than God’s’?
- NLT “Do you think it is right for you to claim, ‘I am righteous before God’?
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 questions whether Job thinks it right to claim his righteousness exceeds God's. He confronts what he sees as Job's self-justifying complaint.
Overview
Elihu challenges the implication in Job's words that Job is more in the right than God. While Job longed to be vindicated, he never truly claimed superiority to God, so Elihu sharpens Job's words beyond their intent. Still, the verse exposes the human tendency to elevate our sense of justice above God's, a pride answered only by submitting to God's righteousness revealed in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Matt 12:36–37But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.
- Job 34:5For Job hath said, I am righteous: and God hath taken away my judgment.
- Job 40:8Wilt thou also disannul my judgment? wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous?
- Luke 19:22And he saith unto him, Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked servant. Thou knewest that I was an austere man, taking up that I laid not down, and reaping that I did not sow:
- Job 16:17Not for any injustice in mine hands: also my prayer is pure.
- Job 27:2–6As God liveth, who hath taken away my judgment; and the Almighty, who hath vexed my soul;
- Job 9:17For he breaketh me with a tempest, and multiplieth my wounds without cause.
- Job 19:6–7Know now that God hath overthrown me, and hath compassed me with his net.
- Job 10:7Thou knowest that I am not wicked; and there is none that can deliver out of thine hand.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 35:2 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.