Even if I were right, I would have no defense. I could only plead for mercy.
Parallel translations
- WEB Though I were righteous, yet I wouldn’t answer him. I would make supplication to my judge.
- KJV Whom, though I were righteous, yet would I not answer, but I would make supplication to my judge.
- BSB For even if I were right, I could not answer. I could only beg my Judge for mercy.
- NKJV For though I were righteous, I could not answer Him; I would beg mercy of my Judge.
- NASB “For though I were right, I could not answer; I would have to implore the mercy of my Judge.
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 says that even if he were righteous, he could not answer God, but could only plead for mercy from his judge. He must appeal to grace, not merit.
Overview
Remarkably, Job admits that even genuine righteousness would not let him argue as an equal with God; he could only beg for mercy. This insight points beyond self-justification to the need for grace. It anticipates the gospel truth that sinners stand before God not on their own merit but by his mercy in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Job 10:15If I am wicked, woe to me. If I am righteous, I still shall not lift up my head, being filled with disgrace, and conscious of my affliction.
- Job 8:5If you want to seek God diligently, make your supplication to the Almighty.
- 1 Pet 2:23Who, when he was cursed, didn’t curse back. When he suffered, didn’t threaten, but committed himself to him who judges righteously;
- Job 10:2I will tell God, ‘Do not condemn me. Show me why you contend with me.
- Job 22:27You shall make your prayer to him, and he will hear you. You shall pay your vows.
- Job 5:8“But as for me, I would seek God. I would commit my cause to God,
- Job 23:7There the upright might reason with him, so I should be delivered forever from my judge.
- 1 Cor 4:4For I know nothing against myself. Yet I am not justified by this, but he who judges me is the Lord.
- Jer 31:9They shall come with weeping; and with petitions will I lead them: I will cause them to walk by rivers of waters, in a straight way in which they shall not stumble; for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.
- Job 34:31–32“For has any said to God, ‘I am guilty, but I will not offend any more.
- 2 Chr 33:13He prayed to him; and he was entreated by him, and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that Yahweh was God.
- Dan 9:18My God, turn your ear, and hear; open your eyes, and see our desolations, and the city which is called by your name: for we do not present our petitions before you for our righteousness, but for your great mercies’ sake.
- 1 Kgs 8:38–39whatever prayer and supplication is made by any man, or by all your people Israel, who shall each know the plague of his own heart, and spread out his hands toward this house,
- Dan 9:3I set my face to the Lord God, to seek by prayer and petitions, with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Commentaries & study tools
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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 9:15 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.