Wilt thou also disannul my judgment? wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous?
Parallel translations
- WEB Will you even annul my judgment? Will you condemn me, that you may be justified?
- BSB Would you really annul My justice? Would you condemn Me to justify yourself?
- 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 3:4God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged.
- Job 32:2Then was kindled the wrath of Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the kindred of Ram: against Job was his wrath kindled, because he justified himself rather than God.
- Isa 28:18And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then ye shall be trodden down by it.
- Job 34:5–6For Job hath said, I am righteous: and God hath taken away my judgment.
- Job 10:3Is it good unto thee that thou shouldest oppress, that thou shouldest despise the work of thine hands, and shine upon the counsel of the wicked?
- Isa 14:27For the LORD of hosts hath purposed, and who shall disannul it? and his hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back?
- Ps 51:4Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.
- Gal 3:17And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect.
- Job 27:2–6As God liveth, who hath taken away my judgment; and the Almighty, who hath vexed my soul;
- Job 35:2–3Thinkest thou this to be right, that thou saidst, My righteousness is more than God’s?
- Gal 3:15Brethren, I speak after the manner of men; Though it be but a man’s covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man disannulleth, or addeth thereto.
- Heb 7:18For there is verily a disannulling of the commandment going before for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof.
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.