If I justify myself, mine own mouth shall condemn me: if I say, I am perfect, it shall also prove me perverse.
Parallel translations
- WEB Though I am righteous, my own mouth shall condemn me. Though I am blameless, it shall prove me perverse.
- BSB Even if I were righteous, my mouth would condemn me; if I were blameless, it would declare me guilty.
- NKJV Though I were righteous, my own mouth would condemn me; Though I were blameless, it would prove me perverse.
- NASB “Though I am righteous, my mouth will condemn me; Though I am guiltless, He will declare me guilty.
- NLT Though I am innocent, my own mouth would pronounce me guilty. Though I am blameless, it would prove me wicked.
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 is righteous, his own mouth would condemn him before God, and his integrity be twisted into guilt. He despairs of being declared right.
Overview
Job fears that in God's overwhelming presence, even his innocent words would somehow incriminate him. He is not confessing real guilt but lamenting that he could not maintain his case before so great a God. The verse expresses the impossibility of self-vindication, underscoring humanity's need for a righteousness from outside itself.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 19
- Job 34:35Job hath spoken without knowledge, and his words were without wisdom.
- Job 9:2I know it is so of a truth: but how should man be just with God?
- Phil 3:12–15Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.
- Job 32:1–2So these three men ceased to answer Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes.
- Ps 130:3If thou, LORD, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?
- Ps 143:2And enter not into judgment with thy servant: for in thy sight shall no man living be justified.
- Job 15:5–6For thy mouth uttereth thine iniquity, and thou choosest the tongue of the crafty.
- Job 4:17Shall mortal man be more just than God? shall a man be more pure than his maker?
- 1 Tim 6:5Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself.
- Luke 10:29But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbour?
- Job 1:1There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil.
- Prov 17:20He that hath a froward heart findeth no good: and he that hath a perverse tongue falleth into mischief.
- Jas 3:2For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body.
- Luke 16:15And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God.
- Isa 6:5Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.
- Matt 12:36–37But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.
- Prov 10:19In the multitude of words there wanteth not sin: but he that refraineth his lips is wise.
- Job 35:16Therefore doth Job open his mouth in vain; he multiplieth words without knowledge.
- Job 33:8–13Surely thou hast spoken in mine hearing, and I have heard the voice of thy words, saying,
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 9:20 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.