If one wished to contend with God, he could not answer Him one time out of a thousand.
Parallel translations
- WEB If he is pleased to contend with him, he can’t answer him one time in a thousand.
- KJV If he will contend with him, he cannot answer him one of a thousand.
- NKJV If one wished to contend with Him, He could not answer Him one time out of a thousand.
- NASB “If one wished to dispute with Him, He could not answer Him once in a thousand times.
- NLT If someone wanted to take God to court, would it be possible to answer him even once in a thousand times?
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 if anyone tried to argue his case with God, he could not answer even one of a thousand charges. Human wisdom is no match for God.
Overview
Job envisions a legal contest with God and confesses he could not respond to even one question in a thousand. The vast disparity between God's wisdom and human understanding leaves Job speechless. This sense of utter inadequacy before God's greatness drives the chapter and points to the need for a mediator (Job 9:33).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Job 10:2I will say to God: Do not condemn me! Let me know why You prosecute me.
- Job 40:2“Will the faultfinder contend with the Almighty? Let him who argues with God give an answer.”
- Ps 40:12For evils without number surround me; my sins have overtaken me, so that I cannot see. They are more than the hairs of my head, and my heart has failed within me.
- 1 Jn 1:8If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
- Rom 9:20But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? Shall what is formed say to Him who formed it, “Why did You make me like this?”
- 1 Jn 3:20Even if our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our hearts, and He knows all things.
- Isa 57:15–16For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in a high and holy place, and with the oppressed and humble in spirit, to restore the spirit of the lowly and revive the heart of the contrite.
- Job 33:13Why do you complain to Him that He answers nothing a man asks?
- Job 31:35–37(Oh, that I had one to hear me! Here is my signature. Let the Almighty answer me; let my accuser compose an indictment.
- Job 9:20Even if I were righteous, my mouth would condemn me; if I were blameless, it would declare me guilty.
- Job 9:32–33For He is not a man like me, that I can answer Him, that we can take each other to court.
- Ps 19:12Who can discern his own errors? Cleanse me from my hidden faults.
- Job 23:3–7If only I knew where to find Him, so that I could go to His seat.
- Job 34:14–15If He were to set His heart to it and withdraw His Spirit and breath,
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 9:3 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.