Be careful not to turn to iniquity, for this you have preferred to affliction.
Parallel translations
- WEB Take heed, don’t regard iniquity; for you have chosen this rather than affliction.
- KJV Take heed, regard not iniquity: for this hast thou chosen rather than affliction.
- NKJV Take heed, do not turn to iniquity, For you have chosen this rather than affliction.
- NASB “Be careful, do not turn to evil, For you preferred this to misery.
- NLT Be on guard! Turn back from evil, for God sent this suffering to keep you from a life of evil.
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 warns Job to take heed and not turn to iniquity, which he has chosen over affliction. He cautions against sinful responses to suffering.
Overview
Elihu charges Job to beware of choosing iniquity instead of patiently bearing affliction. The implication is that turning to sin is a worse path than enduring trial faithfully. This warns that suffering, though painful, must never become an occasion for sin, echoing the call to remain steadfast and faithful under trial as Christ Himself did (1 Pet. 2:21-23).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Ps 66:18If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.
- Heb 11:25He chose to suffer oppression with God’s people rather than to experience the fleeting enjoyment of sin.
- 1 Pet 3:17For it is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.
- Matt 16:24Then Jesus told His disciples, “If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.
- Ezek 14:4Therefore speak to them and tell them that this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘When any Israelite sets up idols in his heart and puts a wicked stumbling block before his face, and then comes to the prophet, I the LORD will answer him according to his great idolatry,
- Matt 13:21But since he has no root, he remains for only a season. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, he quickly falls away.
- Matt 5:29–30If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.
- Acts 5:40–41At this, they yielded to Gamaliel. They called the apostles in and had them flogged. Then they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and released them.
- Job 35:3For you ask, ‘What does it profit me, and what benefit do I gain apart from sin?’
- Dan 6:10Now when Daniel learned that the document had been signed, he went into his house, where the windows of his upper room opened toward Jerusalem, and three times a day he got down on his knees, prayed, and gave thanks to his God, just as he had done before.
- Dan 3:16–18Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego replied to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter.
- Job 34:7–9What man is like Job, who drinks up derision like water?
- 1 Pet 4:15–16Indeed, none of you should suffer as a murderer or thief or wrongdoer, or even as a meddler.
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 36:21 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.