Thy wickedness may hurt a man as thou art; and thy righteousness may profit the son of man.
Parallel translations
- WEB Your wickedness may hurt a man as you are, and your righteousness may profit a son of man.
- BSB Your wickedness affects only a man like yourself, and your righteousness only a son of man.
- NKJV Your wickedness affects a man such as you, And your righteousness a son of man.
- NASB “Your wickedness is for a man like yourself, And your righteousness is for a son of man.
- NLT No, your sins affect only people like yourself, and your good deeds also affect only humans.
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 notes that our sin and righteousness chiefly affect fellow human beings. Our conduct's consequences land on people like ourselves.
Overview
Having said our deeds do not alter God's being, Elihu clarifies that they deeply affect other people. Wickedness harms our neighbor, and righteousness benefits others, showing the horizontal weight of moral action. This anticipates the second great commandment to love our neighbor (Lev. 19:18; Matt. 22:39), and reminds us that true faith bears fruit in love toward others.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Josh 7:1–5But the children of Israel committed a trespass in the accursed thing: for Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took of the accursed thing: and the anger of the LORD was kindled against the children of Israel.
- Josh 22:20Did not Achan the son of Zerah commit a trespass in the accursed thing, and wrath fell on all the congregation of Israel? and that man perished not alone in his iniquity.
- Eccl 9:18Wisdom is better than weapons of war: but one sinner destroyeth much good.
- Job 42:8Therefore take unto you now seven bullocks and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering; and my servant Job shall pray for you: for him will I accept: lest I deal with you after your folly, in that ye have not spoken of me the thing which is right, like my servant Job.
- Ezek 22:30And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none.
- Jonah 1:12And he said unto them, Take me up, and cast me forth into the sea; so shall the sea be calm unto you: for I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you.
- Acts 27:24Saying, Fear not, Paul; thou must be brought before Caesar: and, lo, God hath given thee all them that sail with thee.
- Heb 11:7By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.
- Gen 19:29And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in the which Lot dwelt.
- Gen 18:24–33Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city: wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein?
- Gen 12:2And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:
- Ps 106:23Therefore he said that he would destroy them, had not Moses his chosen stood before him in the breach, to turn away his wrath, lest he should destroy them.
- Ps 106:30Then stood up Phinehas, and executed judgment: and so the plague was stayed.
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 35:8 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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