“Will you discredit my justice and condemn me just to prove you are right?
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?
- 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?
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 3:4May it never be! Yes, let God be found true, but every man a liar. As it is written, “That you might be justified in your words, and might prevail when you come into judgment.”
- Job 32:2Then the wrath of Elihu the son of Barachel, the Buzite, of the family of Ram, was kindled against Job. His wrath was kindled because he justified himself rather than God.
- Isa 28:18Your covenant with death shall be annulled, and your agreement with Sheol shall not stand. When the overflowing scourge passes through, then you will be trampled down by it.
- Job 34:5–6For Job has said, ‘I am righteous, God has taken away my right:
- Job 10:3Is it good to you that you should oppress, that you should despise the work of your hands, and smile on the counsel of the wicked?
- Isa 14:27For Yahweh of Armies has planned, and who can stop it? His hand is stretched out, and who can turn it back?”
- Ps 51:4Against you, and you only, I have sinned, and done that which is evil in your sight; that you may be proved right when you speak, and justified when you judge.
- Gal 3:17Now I say this. A covenant confirmed beforehand by God in Christ, the law, which came four hundred thirty years after, does not annul, so as to make the promise of no effect.
- Job 27:2–6“As God lives, who has taken away my right, the Almighty, who has made my soul bitter
- Job 35:2–3“Do you think this to be your right, or do you say, ‘My righteousness is more than God’s,’
- Gal 3:15Brothers, speaking of human terms, though it is only a man’s covenant, yet when it has been confirmed, no one makes it void, or adds to it.
- Heb 7:18For there is an annulling of a foregoing commandment because of its weakness and uselessness
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.