Job 13:8
in Job 13Would you show Him partiality or argue in His defense?
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Will ye show partiality to him? Will ye contend for God?
KJV
Will ye accept his person? will ye contend for God?
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This verse in Job 13
Commentary
10 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Will ye accept his person? - That is, will you be partial to him? The language is such as is used in relation to courts of justice, where a judge shows favor to one of the parties on account of birth, rank, wealth, or personal friendship. The idea here is, “will you, from partiality to God, maintain unjust principles, and defend positions which are really untenable?” There was a controversy between Job and God. Job maintained that he was punished too severely; that the divine dealings were unequal and disproportioned to his offences. His friends, he alleges, have not done justice to the arguments which he had urged, but had taken sides with God against him, no matter what he urged or what he said. So little disposed were they to do justice to him and to listen to his vindication, that no matter what he said, they set it all down to impatience, rebellion, and insubmission. They assumed that he was wrong, and that God was wholly right in all flyings. Of this position that God was right, no one could reasonably complain, and in his sober reflections Job himself would not be disposed to object to it; but his complaint is, that though the considerations which he urged were of the greatest weight, they would not allow their force, simply because they were determined to vindicate God. Their position was, that God dealt with people strictly according to their character; and that no matter what they suffered, their sufferings were the exact measure of their ill desert. Against this position, they would hear nothing that Job could say; and they maintained it by every kind of argument which was at their command - whether sound or unsound, sophistical or solid. Job says that this was showing partiality for God, and he felt that he had a right to complain. We need never show “partiality” even for God. […]
This site's exposition
Hear now my argument
on Job 13:6-9
Job turns the friends' defense of God into a charge, since false doctrine spoken for God is itself sin against Him. The question "Would you show Him partiality" carries the language of a corrupt judge favoring one party. Job's words plant the ground of God's ruling at 42:7.
This site's exposition
Would you show Him partiality
Barnes explains partiality from the courts, where a judge favors one side for rank or wealth. Job asks whether the friends would argue in God's defense by partiality, with the case unheard. Clarke hears them flattering God like a mortal judge.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
"If he follows your traces," Job says. Therefore you, who speak so now would have not spoken so, if you were directly involved in the case that is judged. That is, if you were in my place and God were judging your matters with severity, you would have not judged my words as you do now. Or, to say things in a different manner, you, who speak so, would have not been judges of my words. In fact, Job says, even if you speak more, and you do everything to speak in God's favor, he will not confound you any less and will ask you for explanations.
The Medieval Church2 voices
They could respond, however, that they did not say anything deceitfully against Job, but only what they thought. Job therefore shows that if this were true, they would fall into another vice although they had been excused from deceit, namely, the respect of persons which …
Will ye take His person? will ye strive to judge for God? For when foolish men behold the doings of the wise, they all seem to them to be worthy of blame; who, forgetting their own emptiness and deficiency, pass judgment on the concerns of others the more eagerly, in proportion as they are more deeply ignorant of their own.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Your principles are false and your arguings fallacious, and will it excuse you to say, It is for God? " No, for a good intention will not justify, much less will it sanctify, a bad word or action. God's truth needs not our lie, nor God's cause either our sinful policies or our sinful passions.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — odd-straight-quotes
Will ye accept his person?....
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
accept his person--God's; that is, be partial for Him, as when a judge favors one party in a trial, because of personal considerations. contend for God--namely, with fallacies and prepossessions against Job before judgment (Jud 6:31).
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
Will ye accept his person? - Do you think to act by him as you would by a mortal; and, by telling lies in his favor, attempt to conciliate his esteem?
The words behind it
5 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| הֲפָנָ֥יו | hafanav | ¿ face his | H6440 → | 2123 times |
| תִּשָּׂא֑וּן | tisaun | will you lift up ! | H5375 → | 656 times |
| אִם־ | ʾim- | or? | H518 → | 1069 times |
| לָאֵ֥ל | lael | for <the> God | H410 → | 241 times |
| תְּרִיבֽוּן׃ | terivun | will you argue a case ! | H7378 → | 67 times |
הֲפָנָ֥יו¿ face his
hafanavH6440 →2123 times
תִּשָּׂא֑וּןwill you lift up !
tisaunH5375 →656 times
אִם־or?
ʾim-H518 →1069 times
לָאֵ֥לfor <the> God
laelH410 →241 times
תְּרִיבֽוּן׃will you argue a case !
terivunH7378 →67 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Leviticus 19:15You must not pervert justice; you must not show partiality to the poor or favoritism to the rich; you are to judge your neighbor fairly.
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 1:17
Show no partiality in judging; hear both small and great alike. Do not be intimidated by anyone, for judgment belongs to God. And bring to me any case too difficult for you, and I…
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Proverbs 24:23
These also are sayings of the wise: To show partiality in judgment is not good.
- Deuteronomy 27:19
‘Cursed is he who withholds justice from the foreigner, the fatherless, or the widow.’ And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’
- Exodus 23:2–3
You shall not follow the crowd in wrongdoing. When you testify in a lawsuit, do not pervert justice by siding with the crowd.
- Exodus 23:6–8
You shall not deny justice to the poor in their lawsuits.
- Deuteronomy 1:17
Through
Job 34:19who is not partial to princes and does not favor rich over poor? For they are all the work of His hands.
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 10:17
For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, mighty, and awesome God, showing no partiality and accepting no bribe.
- James 2:5
Listen, my beloved brothers: Has not God chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom He promised those who love Him?
- Deuteronomy 10:17
Through
Proverbs 24:23These also are sayings of the wise: To show partiality in judgment is not good.
it leads to
- Proverbs 28:21
To show partiality is not good, yet a man will do wrong for a piece of bread.
- Proverbs 28:21
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Job
This page draws on 10 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Job; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments; Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book XI; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Chrysostom, COMMENTARY ON JOB 13:8-10A; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.