Would you really annul My justice? Would you condemn Me to justify yourself?
Parallel translations
- WEB Will you even annul my judgment? Will you condemn me, that you may be justified?
- KJV Wilt thou also disannul my judgment? wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous?
- NKJV “Wouldyou indeed annul My judgment? Would you condemn Me that you may be justified?
- NASB “Will you really nullify My judgment? Will you condemn Me so that you may be justified?
- NLT “Will you discredit my justice and condemn me just to prove you are right?
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
God asks whether Job would annul God's justice and condemn God in order to justify himself. The real issue is exposed: Job must not make himself right by making God wrong.
Overview
This penetrating question goes to the heart of Job's error. In maintaining his innocence, Job had implied that God was unjust. God shows that one cannot vindicate oneself by impugning the Creator's righteousness. This is a crucial lesson for every sufferer: God's justice stands even when we cannot trace his reasons. Ultimately, only at the cross do we see how God remains both just and the justifier of those who trust him.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Rom 3:4Certainly not! Let God be true and every man a liar. As it is written: “So that You may be proved right when You speak and victorious when You judge.”
- Job 32:2This kindled the anger of Elihu son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Ram. He burned with anger against Job for justifying himself rather than God,
- Isa 28:18Your covenant with death will be dissolved, and your agreement with Sheol will not stand. When the overwhelming scourge passes through, you will be trampled by it.
- Job 34:5–6For Job has declared, ‘I am righteous, yet God has deprived me of justice.
- Job 10:3Does it please You to oppress me, to reject the work of Your hands and favor the schemes of the wicked?
- Isa 14:27The LORD of Hosts has purposed, and who can thwart Him? His hand is outstretched, so who can turn it back?
- Ps 51:4Against You, You only, have I sinned and done what is evil in Your sight, so that You may be proved right when You speak and blameless when You judge.
- Gal 3:17What I mean is this: The law that came 430 years later does not revoke the covenant previously established by God, so as to nullify the promise.
- Job 27:2–6“As surely as God lives, who has deprived me of justice—the Almighty, who has embittered my soul—
- Job 35:2–3“Do you think this is just? You say, ‘I am more righteous than God.’
- Gal 3:15Brothers, let me put this in human terms. Even a human covenant, once it is ratified, cannot be canceled or amended.
- Heb 7:18So the former commandment is set aside because it was weak and useless
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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 40:8 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.