Take heed, regard not iniquity: for this hast thou chosen rather than affliction.
Parallel translations
- WEB Take heed, don’t regard iniquity; for you have chosen this rather than affliction.
- BSB Be careful not to turn to iniquity, for this you have preferred to 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 regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me:
- Heb 11:25Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season;
- 1 Pet 3:17For it is better, if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well doing, than for evil doing.
- Matt 16:24Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
- Ezek 14:4Therefore speak unto them, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Every man of the house of Israel that setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to the prophet; I the LORD will answer him that cometh according to the multitude of his idols;
- Matt 13:21Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended.
- Matt 5:29–30And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.
- Acts 5:40–41And to him they agreed: and when they had called the apostles, and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go.
- Job 35:3For thou saidst, What advantage will it be unto thee? and, What profit shall I have, if I be cleansed from my sin?
- Dan 6:10Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime.
- Dan 3:16–18Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter.
- Job 34:7–9What man is like Job, who drinketh up scorning like water?
- 1 Pet 4:15–16But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men’s matters.
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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
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