“Your wickedness is for a man like yourself, And your righteousness is for a son of man.
Parallel translations
- WEB Your wickedness may hurt a man as you are, and your righteousness may profit a son of man.
- KJV Thy wickedness may hurt a man as thou art; and thy righteousness may profit the 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.
- 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 devoted things; for Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of the devoted things. Therefore Yahweh’s anger burned against the children of Israel.
- Josh 22:20Didn’t Achan the son of Zerah commit a trespass in the devoted thing, and wrath fell on all the congregation of Israel? That man didn’t perish alone in his iniquity.’”
- Eccl 9:18Wisdom is better than weapons of war; but one sinner destroys much good.
- Job 42:8Now therefore, take to yourselves seven bulls 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 I will accept him, that I not deal with you according to your folly. For you have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job has.”
- Ezek 22:30“I sought for a man among them, who should build up the wall, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one.
- Jonah 1:12He said to them, “Take me up, and throw me into the sea. Then the sea will be calm for you; for I know that because of me this great storm is on you.”
- Acts 27:24saying, ‘Don’t be afraid, Paul. You must stand before Caesar. Behold, God has granted you all those who sail with you.’
- Heb 11:7By faith, Noah, being warned about things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared a ship for the saving of his house, through which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith.
- Gen 19:29When God destroyed the cities of the plain, God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the middle of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in which Lot lived.
- Gen 18:24–33What if there are fifty righteous within the city? Will you consume and not spare the place for the fifty righteous who are in it?
- Gen 12:2I will make of you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great. You will be a blessing.
- Ps 106:23Therefore he said that he would destroy them, had Moses, his chosen, not stood before him in the breach, to turn away his wrath, so that he wouldn’t destroy them.
- Ps 106:30Then Phinehas stood up, and executed judgment, so the plague was stopped.
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
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.