Depravity of Man

How Nave’s arranged it

• General scriptures concerningGenesis 8:21Genesis 6:5–7Genesis 6:11–13Genesis 8:21Deuteronomy 32:102 Chronicles 6:36Job 4:17–19Job 9:2Job 9:3Job 9:20Job 9:29Job 9:30Job 11:12Job 14:4Job 15:14–16Job 25:4–6Psalms 5:9Psalms 14:1–3Psalms 51:5Psalms 53:1–3
• See Fall of Man
• See Sin

The passages, in Bible order (120)

The same references, sorted Genesis to Revelation. The first 16 are quoted in full; the rest are one click beneath them, book by book.

1. Genesis 6:5–7

   Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great upon the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was altogether evil all the time.

   ›Commentary on Genesis 6:5–72 voices

   “And then Michael, Uriel, Raphael, and Gabriel looked down from heaven and saw much blood being shed upon the earth, and all lawlessness being wrought upon the earth.

   “And for a very long while wickedness extended and spread, and reached and laid hold upon the whole race of mankind, until a very small seed of righteousness remained among them: and illicit unions took place upon the earth, since angels were united with the daughters of the race of mankind; and they bore to them sons who for their exceeding greatness were called giants.

   Everything gathered on Genesis 6:5–7→

   Verse page →Original language →

2. Genesis 6:11–13

   Now the earth was corrupt in the sight of God, and full of violence.

   Verse page →Original language →

3. Genesis 8:21

   When the LORD smelled the pleasing aroma, He said in His heart, “Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from his youth. And never again will I destroy all living creatures as I have done.

   ›Commentary on Genesis 8:212 voices

   “The Lord smelled a sweet savor - That is, he was well pleased with this religious act, performed in obedience to his own appointment, and in faith of the promised Savior. That this sacrifice prefigured that which was offered by our blessed Redeemer in behalf of the world, is sufficiently evident from the words of St. Paul, Eph 5:2: Christ hath loved us, and given himself for its an offering and a sacrifice to God for a Sweet-Smelling Savor; where the words οσμην ευωδιας of the apostle are the very words used by the Septuagint in this place.

   “Herein he had an eye, not so much to Noah's sacrifice as to Christ's sacrifice of himself, which was typified and represented by it, and which was indeed an offering of a sweet-smelling savour, Eph. v. 2 . Good security is here given, and that which may be relied upon, (1.) That this judgment should never be repeated.

   Everything gathered on Genesis 8:21→

   Verse page →Original language →

4. Deuteronomy 32:10

   He found him in a desert land, in a barren, howling wilderness; He surrounded him, He instructed him, He guarded him as the apple of His eye.

   ›Commentary on Deuteronomy 32:101 voice

   “He - the Lord, found him - Jacob, in his descendants, in a desert land - the wilderness. He led him about forty years in this wilderness, Deu 8:2, or יסבבנהו yesobebenhu, he compassed him about, i. e., God defended them on all hands, and in all places.

   Everything gathered on Deuteronomy 32:10→

   Verse page →Original language →

5. 2 Chronicles 6:36

   When they sin against You—for there is no one who does not sin—and You become angry with them and deliver them to an enemy who takes them as captives to a land far or near,

   Verse page →Original language →

6. Job 4:17–19

   ‘Can a mortal be more righteous than God, or a man more pure than his Maker?

   ›Commentary on Job 4:17–192 voices

   “Shall mortal man be more just than God? Shall a man be more pure than his Maker? Human righteousness compared with the righteousness of God is unrighteousness, for even a candle is seen to shine bright in the dark, but being set in the ray of the sun its light is darkened. What then did Eliphaz learn when he was transported in contemplation, saving that man cannot be justified in comparison with God?

   “Shall mortal man - Or, shall feeble man. The idea of “mortal” is not necessarily implied in the word used here, אנושׁ 'ĕnôsh. It means man; and is usually applied to the lower classes or ranks of people; see the notes at Isa 8:1. The common opinion in regard to this word is, that it is derived from אנשׁ 'ânash, to be sick, or ill at ease; and then desperate, or incurable - as of a disease or wound; Jer 15:18; Mic 1:9; Job 34:

   Everything gathered on Job 4:17–19→

   Verse page →Original language →

7. Job 9:2

   “Yes, I know that it is so, but how can a mortal be righteous before God?

   ›Commentary on Job 9:22 voices

   “Blessed Job in his answer above in which he had responded to Eliphaz's words, seemed to have overlooked one argument which Eliphaz had proposed about the justice of God when he said, "Will man ever be justified in comparison with God?" (4:17) He rather seemed …

   “I know it is so of a truth, and that man put with God is not justified. For man being put under God receives righteousness; being put with God he loses it: for everyone that compares himself with the Author of all good things, bereaves himself of the good which he had received. For he that ascribes to himself blessings vouchsafed to him, is fighting against God with His own gifts. Therefore by whatsoever means he being in contempt is lifted up, it is meet that being so set up he be brought to the ground by the same.

   Everything gathered on Job 9:2→

   Verse page →Original language →

8. Job 9:3

   If one wished to contend with God, he could not answer Him one time out of a thousand.

   ›Commentary on Job 9:32 voices

   “If thou wilt contend with Him, thou shalt not be able to answer Him one of a thousand. In Holy Scripture, the number a thousand is wont to be taken for totality. Hence the Psalmist saith, The word which He commanded to a thousand generations; when it is sufficiently plain that from the very beginning of the world up to the coming of our Lord no more than seventy-seven generations are reckoned up by the Evangelist.

   “If he will contend with him - That is, if God enters into a controversy with man. If he chooses to charge crime on him, and to hold him responsible for his deeds. The language here is taken from courts of justice, and means that if a trial were instituted, where God should submit charges, and the matter were left to adjudication, man could not answer the charges against him; compare the notes at Isa 41:1. He cannot answer him one of a thousand - For one of a thousand of the sins charged on him.

   Everything gathered on Job 9:3→

   Verse page →Original language →

9. Job 9:20

   Even if I were righteous, my mouth would condemn me; if I were blameless, it would declare me guilty.

   ›Commentary on Job 9:202 voices

   “If I desire to justify myself; mine own, mouth shall condemn me; if I say I am perfect, it shall also prove me perverse. As if it were in plain words; 'Why should I speak about others, when I cannot bear testimony concerning myself?' But whereas thou art not competent to witness to thine own innocency, dost thou know the fact that thou art innocent?

   “In the judgment of Sodom indeed, which is called the vengeance of eternal fire ( Jude 7 ), far be it from God to slay the righteous with the wicked, and that the righteous should be as the wicked ( Gen. xviii. 25 ); but, in judgments merely temporal, the righteous have their share, and sometimes the greatest share.

   Everything gathered on Job 9:20→

   Verse page →Original language →

10. Job 9:29

    Since I am already found guilty, why should I labor in vain?

    ›Commentary on Job 9:292 voices

    “But if even so I be wicked, why, then, have I laboured in vain? For if we be examined pity set aside, our work which we look to have recompensed with a reward is deserving of punishment. 'Therefore the holy man shrinking under secret judgment, says, But if even so I be wicked, why, then, have I laboured in vain? Not that he repents of having laboured, but that it grieves him even amidst labours to be in uncertainty about the reward.

    “If I be wicked, why then labour I in vain? - The word “if,” here introduced by our translators, greatly obscures the sense. The meaning evidently is, “I am held to be guilty, and cannot answer to that charge. God regards me as such, and if I should attempt to meet him on the charge, it would be a vain attempt; and I must admit its truth. It would be labor in vain to deny it against one so mighty as he is.” This interpretation accords with the argument in the whole chapter.

    Everything gathered on Job 9:29→

    Verse page →Original language →

11. Job 9:30

    If I should wash myself with snow and cleanse my hands with lye,

    ›Commentary on Job 9:302 voices

    “If I wash myself with snow water, and if my hands shine as if never so clean; yet shalt Thou stain me with filthiness, and mine own clothes shall abhor me. For 'snow water' is the weeping of humility; which same, in that it excels all other virtues in the eyes of the strict Judge, is as it were white by the colour of preeminent merit.

    “If I wash myself with snow water - Supposed to have a more detergent quality than common water; and it was certainly preferred to common water by the ancients. Of this we find an example in an elegant but licentious author: Tandem ergo discubuimus, pueris Alexandrinis Aquam in manus Nivatam infundentibus, aliisque insequentibus ad pedes - Petr. Satyr., cap. xxxi. “At length we sat down, and had snow water poured on our hands by lads of Alexandria,” etc. Mr. Good supposes that there is an allusion here to the ancient rite of washing the hands in token of innocence.

    Everything gathered on Job 9:30→

    Verse page →Original language →

12. Job 11:12

    But a witless man can no more become wise than the colt of a wild donkey can be born a man!

    ›Commentary on Job 11:122 voices

    “For vain man would be wise - The original is difficult and uncertain, ואיש נבוב ילבב veish nabub yillabeb, “And shall the hollow man assume courage,” or “pride himself?” Or, as Mr. Good rather paraphrases it, Will he then accept the hollow-hearted person? The Chaldee gives two renderings: An eloquent man shall become wiser in his heart, and the colt of the wild ass is born as the son of man. Or, The wise man shall ponder it; and the refractory youth, who at last becomes prudent, shall make a great man.

    “He is a foolish creature, has become like the beasts that perish ( Ps. xlix. 22 ), an idiot, born like an ass, the most stupid animal, an ass's colt, not yet brought to any service. If ever he come to be good for any thing, it is owing to the grace of Christ, who once, in the day of his triumph, served himself by an ass's colt.

    Everything gathered on Job 11:12→

    Verse page →Original language →

13. Job 14:4

    Who can bring out clean from unclean? No one!

    ›Commentary on Job 14:42 voices

    “Who can make clean a thing conceived of unclean seed? Is it not Thou, Who only Art? He That alone is clean in Himself can cleanse the unclean thing. For man, who lives in a corruptible flesh, has the uncleannesses of temptation engrained in him, seeing that he derived them from his birth. For his very conception, for the sake of fleshly gratification, is uncleanness. Hence the Psalmist saith, Behold, I was shapen in wickedness, and in sin hath my mother conceived me. Hence it is therefore that he is very often tempted even against his will.

    “Who can bring a clean thing - This verse is thus rendered by the Chaldee: “Who will produce a clean thing from man, who is polluted with sins, except God, who is one?” By Coverdale thus: Who can make it cleane, that commeth of an uncleane thinge? No body. The text refers to man’s original and corrupt nature. Every man that is born into the world comes into it in a corrupt or sinful state. This is called original sin; and is derived from fallen Adam, who is the stock, to the utmost ramifications of the human family.

    Everything gathered on Job 14:4→

    Verse page →Original language →

14. Job 15:14–16

    What is man, that he should be pure, or one born of woman, that he should be righteous?

    ›Commentary on Job 15:14–162 voices

    “Ver. 14. What is man, that he should be clean? MORAL INTERPRETATION For hereby alone that he is called 'man' he is described as earthly and weak; for man is so named ['homo' from 'humus,' as Hebrew 'Adam'] from the earth. And how is it possible for him to be free from stain, who being made of earth of his own will fell into infirmity? where it is added; And he that is born of a woman, that he should be righteous? For the first piece of unrighteousness the woman proffered to the man in Paradise.

    “What is man, that he should be clean? - מה אנוש mah enosh; what is weak, sickly, dying, miserable man, that he should be clean? This is the import of the original word enosh. And - born of a woman, that he should be righteous? - It appears, from many passages in the sacred writings, that natural birth was supposed to be a defilement; and that every man born into the world was in a state of moral pollution. Perhaps the word יצדק yitsdak should be translated, that he should justify himself, and not that he should be righteous.

    Everything gathered on Job 15:14–16→

    Verse page →Original language →

15. Job 25:4–6

    How then can a man be just before God? How can one born of woman be pure?

    ›Commentary on Job 25:4–62 voices

    “Can a man be justified being compared with God? or can he be found clean that is born of a woman? This verse is spoken above by blessed Job, and is now repeated in the upbraiding of him; since every just man is just by illumination from God, not by comparison with God. For man's righteousness when compared with the Maker is unrighteousness, since, even although man had held fast in his own estate of creation, the creature could never be equalled to the Creator.

    “How then can man be justified? - Or, ונה umah, With what, shall a man be justified with God? Though this is no conclusion from Bildad’s premises, yet the question is of the highest importance to man. Neither Bildad nor any of his fellows could answer it; the doctrine of redemption through the blood of the cross was then known only through types and shadows. We who live in the Gospel dispensation, can readily answer the question, With what shall miserable man (אנוש enosh) be justified with God? - Ans.

    Everything gathered on Job 25:4–6→

    Verse page →Original language →

16. Psalms 5:9

    For not a word they speak can be trusted; destruction lies within them. Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit.

    ›Commentary on Psalms 5:92 voices

    “This description of depraved man has been copied by the Apostle Paul, and, together with some other quotations, he has placed it in the second chapter of Romans, as being an accurate description of the whole human race, not of David's enemies only, but of all men by nature. Note that remarkable figure, "Their throat is an open sepulchre, "a sepulchre full of loathsomeness, of miasma, of pestilence and death. But, worse than that, it is an open sepulchre, with all its evil gases issuing forth, to spread death and destruction all around.

    “For there is no truth in their mouth. The heretics are described; the man of blood and deceit is described, whom the Lord shall abhor. There is no truth in their mouth: they do not have Christ the truth in their mouth, because neither do they have Him in their heart. Their heart is vain. It reads better in the Hebrew: 'Their heart is ἐπίβουλον (treacherous).' For the heart of the heretics truly lies in wait for all whom it deceives. Their throat is an open sepulchre.

    Everything gathered on Psalms 5:9→

    Verse page →Original language →