If I have sinned, what have I done to You, O watcher of mankind? Why have You made me Your target, so that I am a burden to You?
Parallel translations
- WEB If I have sinned, what do I do to you, you watcher of men? Why have you set me as a mark for you, so that I am a burden to myself?
- KJV I have sinned; what shall I do unto thee, O thou preserver of men? why hast thou set me as a mark against thee, so that I am a burden to myself?
- NKJV Have I sinned? What have I done to You, O watcher of men? Why have You set me as Your target, So that I am a burden to myself?
- NASB “Have I sinned? What have I done to You, Watcher of mankind? Why have You made me Your target, So that I am a burden to myself?
- NLT If I have sinned, what have I done to you, O watcher of all humanity? Why make me your target? Am I a burden to you?
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
Job asks what harm his sin could do to God, the watcher of men, and why he has become God's target and a burden to himself. He questions the purpose of his suffering.
Overview
Job concedes he may have sinned but cannot see how it would injure God or warrant such affliction. Calling God 'watcher of men,' he wrestles with why he feels singled out. The reader knows the trial's true cause lies in the heavenly contest of Job 1-2, hidden from Job, which teaches that not all suffering is punishment for sin.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 17
- Lam 3:12He bent His bow and set me as the target for His arrow.
- Job 3:24I sigh when food is put before me, and my groans pour out like water.
- Ps 36:6Your righteousness is like the highest mountains; Your judgments are like the deepest sea. O LORD, You preserve man and beast.
- Job 7:11–12Therefore I will not restrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.
- Ps 80:4O LORD God of Hosts, how long will Your anger smolder against the prayers of Your people?
- Job 14:16For then You would count my steps, but would not keep track of my sin.
- Ps 21:12For You will put them to flight when Your bow is trained upon them.
- Job 31:33if I have covered my transgressions like Adam by hiding my guilt in my heart,
- Job 16:12–14I was at ease, but He shattered me; He seized me by the neck and crushed me. He has set me up as His target;
- Job 33:9‘I am pure, without transgression; I am clean, with no iniquity in me.
- Job 33:27Then he sings before men with these words: ‘I have sinned and perverted what was right; yet I did not get what I deserved.
- Job 13:26For You record bitter accusations against me and bequeath to me the iniquities of my youth.
- Neh 9:6You alone are the LORD. You created the heavens, the highest heavens with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to all things, and the host of heaven worships You.
- Job 9:29–31Since I am already found guilty, why should I labor in vain?
- Job 6:4For the arrows of the Almighty have pierced me; my spirit drinks in their poison; the terrors of God are arrayed against me.
- Job 35:6If you sin, what do you accomplish against Him? If you multiply your transgressions, what do you do to Him?
- Job 22:5Is not your wickedness great? Are not your iniquities endless?
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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 7:20 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.