If thou be righteous, what givest thou him? or what receiveth he of thine hand?
Parallel translations
- WEB If you are righteous, what do you give him? Or what does he receive from your hand?
- BSB If you are righteous, what do you give Him, or what does He receive from your hand?
- NKJV If you are righteous, what do you give Him? Or what does He receive from your hand?
- NASB “If you are righteous, what do you give to Him, Or what does He receive from your hand?
- NLT If you are good, is this some great gift to him? What could you possibly give 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 gives God by being righteous, or what God receives from his hand. Human goodness adds nothing to the all-sufficient God.
Overview
As sin cannot harm God, so righteousness cannot enrich Him; God receives nothing He lacks from our obedience (cf. Ps. 16:2; Rom. 11:35). This guards against viewing godliness as a way to place God in our debt. It directs us to serve God out of love and gratitude rather than merit, the very heart of grace fulfilled in the gospel where salvation is God's gift.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Job 22:2–3Can a man be profitable unto God, as he that is wise may be profitable unto himself?
- Ps 16:2O my soul, thou hast said unto the LORD, Thou art my Lord: my goodness extendeth not to thee;
- Prov 9:12If thou be wise, thou shalt be wise for thyself: but if thou scornest, thou alone shalt bear it.
- Luke 17:10So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do.
- Rom 11:35Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again?
- 1 Chr 29:14But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort? for all things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 35:7 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
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