If thou sinnest, what doest thou against him? or if thy transgressions be multiplied, what doest thou unto him?
Parallel translations
- WEB If you have sinned, what effect do you have against him? If your transgressions are multiplied, what do you do to him?
- BSB If you sin, what do you accomplish against Him? If you multiply your transgressions, what do you do to Him?
- NKJV If you sin, what do you accomplish against Him? Or, if your transgressions are multiplied, what do you do to Him?
- NASB “If you have sinned, what do you accomplish against Him? And if your wrongdoings are many, what do you do to Him?
- NLT If you sin, how does that affect God? Even if you sin again and again, what effect will it have on him?
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 what Job's sins actually do to God, even if multiplied. Human transgression cannot harm or diminish the Almighty.
Overview
Elihu argues that no amount of sin injures God's being, for He is self-sufficient and infinitely above us. This does not mean sin is trivial, since it offends God's holiness, but that it adds nothing to or takes nothing from His essence. The point humbles human pretension and underscores that our greatest need is reconciliation, not bargaining, met fully in the atoning work of Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 3
- Jer 7:19Do they provoke me to anger? saith the LORD: do they not provoke themselves to the confusion of their own faces?
- Prov 8:36But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul: all they that hate me love death.
- Prov 9:12If thou be wise, thou shalt be wise for thyself: but if thou scornest, thou alone shalt bear it.
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 35:6 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.