Job 24:25
in Job 24If this is not so, then who can prove me a liar and reduce my words to nothing?”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And if it be not so now, who will prove me a liar, And make my speech nothing worth?
KJV
And if it be not so now, who will make me a liar, and make my speech nothing worth?
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This verse in Job 24
Commentary
9 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
And if it be not so now, who will make me a liar? - A challenge to anyone to prove the contrary to what he had said. Job had now attacked their main position, and had appealed to facts in defense of what he held. He maintained that, as a matter of fact, the wicked were prospered, that they often lived to old age, and that they then died a peaceful death, without any direct demonstration of the divine displeasure. He boldly appeals, now, to anyone to deny this, or to prove the contrary. The appeal was decisive.
This site's exposition
by His power, God drags away the mighty
on Job 24:22-25
The chapter closes with God, who "drags away the mighty" and gives them "a sense of security". Readers differ on whether Job grants judgment comes late or quotes the friends' creed to overturn it. He then dares them: "who can prove me a liar and reduce my words to nothing?"
This site's exposition
who can prove me a liar
The dare closes the reply that began in chapter 23. Barnes reads it as an appeal to facts: the wicked of this chapter prosper, and whoever denies it must prove it. Henry names two ways to reduce the words to nothing: prove them false, or prove them beside the purpose.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
"If it is not so, may his wrath make me lie," that is, if sinners do not go into that scorn that I have mentioned before, may the wrath of God prove false what I have said.
The Medieval Church2 voices
So he shows clearly that what Eliphaz had calumniously accused him of about the denial of divine providence is false. So he says, "If this is not so," as I have said earlier about the punishment of evildoers, just as you were of the opinion …
A commentator
Gregory the DialogistMorals on the Book of Job, Book XVII · Written before 604.
proposed
And if it be not so now, who will convict me of having lied, and set my words before God? If it be not so as he tells, then surely all people are able to convict him of falsehood. Why then is it said, And if it be not so now, who will convict me of having lied? i.e. whilst we know that, one who is false, it is allowed anyone to find fault with?
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
False in itself, and then they prove me a liar; or, 2. Foreign, and nothing to the purpose, and then they prove my speech frivolous and nothing worth." That indeed which is false is nothing worth; where there is not truth, how can there be goodness?
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — odd-straight-quotes
And if it be not so now,....
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
And if it be not so now - Job has proved by examples that the righteous are often oppressed; that the wicked often triumph over the just, that the impious are always wretched even in the midst of their greatest prosperity; and he defies his friends to show one flaw in his argument, or an error in his illustration of it; and that existing facts are farther proofs of what he has advanced. In the preceding chapters we find Job’s friends having continual recourse to this assertion, which it is the grand object of all their discourses to prove, viz., The righteous are so distinguished in the approbation of God, that they live always in prosperity, and die in peace. On the other hand, Job contends that the dispensations of Providence are by no means thus equal in this life; that experience shows that the righteous are often in adversity, and the wicked in power and prosperity. Job’s friends had also endeavored to prove that if a reported good man fell into adversity, it was a proof that his character had been mistaken, that he was an internal sinner and hypocrite; and that God, by these manifest proofs of his disapprobation, unmasked him. Hence they charged Job with hypocrisy and secret sins, because he was now suffering adversity, and that his sins must be of the most heinous nature, because his afflictions were uncommonly great. This Job repels by appeals to numerous facts where there was nothing equivocal in the character; where the bad was demonstrably bad, and yet in prosperity; and the good demonstrably good, and yet in adversity. It is strange that none of these could hit on a middle way: viz., The wicked may be in prosperity, but he is ever miserable in his soul: the righteous may be in adversity, but he is ever happy in his God. In these respects, God’s ways are always equal. […]
The words behind it
8 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְאִם־ | veim- | and if | H518 → | 1069 times |
| לֹ֣א | lo' | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| אֵ֭פוֹ | ʾefo | then | H645 → | 15 times |
| מִ֣י | mi | who? | H4310 → | 423 times |
| יַכְזִיבֵ֑נִי | yakhziveni | will he prove a liar me | H3576 → | 16 times |
| וְיָשֵׂ֥ם | veyasem | and will he make? | H7760 → | 584 times |
| לְ֝אַ֗ל | leal | into nothing | H408 → | 724 times |
| מִלָּתִֽי׃ ס | milati | speech my | H4405 → | 38 times |
וְאִם־and if
veim-H518 →1069 times
לֹ֣אnot
lo'H3808 →5168 times
אֵ֭פוֹthen
ʾefoH645 →15 times
מִ֣יwho?
miH4310 →423 times
יַכְזִיבֵ֑נִיwill he prove a liar me
yakhziveniH3576 →16 times
וְיָשֵׂ֥םand will he make?
veyasemH7760 →584 times
לְ֝אַ֗לinto nothing
lealH408 →724 times
מִלָּתִֽי׃ סspeech my
milatiH4405 →38 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
Job 9:24The earth is given into the hand of the wicked; He blindfolds its judges. If it is not He, then who is it?
it leads to
- Job 10:3
Does it please You to oppress me, to reject the work of Your hands and favor the schemes of the wicked?
- Psalms 73:3–7
For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
- Job 10:3
Through
Job 27:4my lips will not speak wickedness, and my tongue will not utter deceit.
it leads to
- Job 13:7
Will you speak wickedly on God’s behalf or speak deceitfully for Him?
- John 8:55
You do not know Him, but I know Him. If I said I did not know Him, I would be a liar like you. But I do know Him, and I keep His word.
- Job 6:28
But now, please look at me. Would I lie to your face?
- 2 Corinthians 11:10
As surely as the truth of Christ is in me, this boasting of mine will not be silenced in the regions of Achaia.
- Job 34:6
Would I lie about my case? My wound is incurable, though I am without transgression.’
- Job 13:7
Through
Job 15:2“Does a wise man answer with empty counsel or fill his belly with the hot east wind?
it leads to
- Job 6:26
Do you intend to correct my words, and treat as wind my cry of despair?
- Job 6:26
About Job
This page draws on 10 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on A. B. Davidson, The Book of Job, Cambridge Bible; Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments; Ephrem the Syrian, COMMENTARY ON JOB 24:25; Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Book of Job; Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book XVII; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.