If God puts no trust in His servants, and He charges His angels with error,
Parallel translations
- WEB Behold, he puts no trust in his servants. He charges his angels with error.
- KJV Behold, he put no trust in his servants; and his angels he charged with folly:
- NKJV If He puts no trust in His servants, If He charges His angels with error,
- NASB ‘He puts no trust even in His servants; And He accuses His angels of error.
- NLT “If God does not trust his own angels and has charged his messengers with foolishness,
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
Even God's heavenly servants and angels are charged with error in his sight. The point is that if pure spirits fall short, frail humans surely do.
Overview
The vision argues from greater to lesser: God finds fault even with his angelic servants, so how much more with people. This underscores the infinite gap between Creator and creature and the universality of imperfection before absolute holiness. Such teaching magnifies the wonder of grace, for the gospel reveals a God who not only judges but justifies the ungodly through Christ rather than leaving them condemned.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Job 25:5–6If even the moon does not shine, and the stars are not pure in His sight,
- 2 Pet 2:4For if God did not spare the angels when they sinned, but cast them deep into hell, placing them in chains of darkness to be held for judgment;
- Jude 1:6And the angels who did not stay within their own domain but abandoned their proper dwelling—these He has kept in eternal chains under darkness, bound for judgment on that great day.
- Job 15:15–16If God puts no trust in His holy ones, if even the heavens are not pure in His eyes,
- Ps 104:4He makes the winds His messengers, flames of fire His servants.
- Ps 103:20–21Bless the LORD, all His angels mighty in strength who carry out His word, who hearken to the voice of His command.
- Isa 6:2–3Above Him stood seraphim, each having six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying.
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 4:18 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.