Yet shalt thou plunge me in the ditch, and mine own clothes shall abhor me.
Parallel translations
- WEB yet you will plunge me in the ditch. My own clothes shall abhor me.
- BSB then You would plunge me into the pit, and even my own clothes would despise me.
- NKJV Yet You will plunge me into the pit, And my own clothes will abhor me.
- NASB Then You would plunge me into the pit, And my own clothes would loathe me.
- NLT you would plunge me into a muddy ditch, and my own filthy clothing would hate me.
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 fears that God would still plunge him into filth so that even his own clothes would loathe him. It expresses his sense of being made repulsive despite any effort to be clean.
Overview
The verse completes the thought of self-cleansing: no matter how he scrubs, Job feels God could still defile him so that his very garments would recoil. The image conveys overwhelming despair before God's seeming opposition. Job's longing to be truly clean points ahead to the One who clothes sinners in His own righteousness (Zechariah 3:3-4; Isaiah 61:10).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 5
- Job 9:20If I justify myself, mine own mouth shall condemn me: if I say, I am perfect, it shall also prove me perverse.
- Job 15:6Thine own mouth condemneth thee, and not I: yea, thine own lips testify against thee.
- Isa 59:6Their webs shall not become garments, neither shall they cover themselves with their works: their works are works of iniquity, and the act of violence is in their hands.
- Isa 64:6But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.
- Phil 3:8–9Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 9:31 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.