If he will contend with him, he cannot answer him one of a thousand.
Parallel translations
- WEB If he is pleased to contend with him, he can’t answer him one time in a thousand.
- BSB If one wished to contend with God, he could not answer Him one time out 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 unto God, Do not condemn me; shew me wherefore thou contendest with me.
- Job 40:2Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him? he that reproveth God, let him answer it.
- Ps 40:12For innumerable evils have compassed me about: mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up; they are more than the hairs of mine head: therefore my heart faileth me.
- 1 Jn 1:8If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
- Rom 9:20Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?
- 1 Jn 3:20For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things.
- Isa 57:15–16For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.
- Job 33:13Why dost thou strive against him? for he giveth not account of any of his matters.
- Job 31:35–37Oh that one would hear me! behold, my desire is, that the Almighty would answer me, and that mine adversary had written a book.
- 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 9:32–33For he is not a man, as I am, that I should answer him, and we should come together in judgment.
- Ps 19:12Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults.
- Job 23:3–7Oh that I knew where I might find him! that I might come even to his seat!
- Job 34:14–15If he set his heart upon man, if he gather unto himself his spirit and his breath;
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
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 9:3 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.