Job 27:4
in Job 27my lips will not speak wickedness, and my tongue will not utter deceit.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Surely my lips shall not speak unrighteousness, Neither shall my tongue utter deceit.
KJV
My lips shall not speak wickedness, nor my tongue utter deceit.
⋯
This verse in Job 27
Commentary
8 notes on this verseAll the while my breath is in me, and the Spirit of God is in my nostrils, my lips shall not speak iniquity, nor my tongue meditate falsehood. What he first calls 'iniquity,' this repeating afterwards he calls 'falsehood.' For both all 'falsehood' is 'iniquity,' and all 'iniquity' 'falsehood,' because, whatever thing is at variance with truth is surely at odds with equity. But between this which he expresses, 'to speak' and that which he adds afterwards, to 'meditate,' there is a wide difference. For sometimes it is a worse thing to 'meditate' falsehood than to speak it.
This site's exposition
as long as my breath is still within me
on Job 27:3-4
Job ties his honesty to the breath God gave him, an echo of Genesis 2:7. He pledges that "my lips will not speak wickedness, and my tongue will not utter deceit", under his suffering. Clarke notes the oath's scope, which binds Job's speech for as long as his life lasts.
This site's exposition
my lips will not speak wickedness
The oath of verses 2 and 3 binds Job's lips and tongue as long as his breath lasts. Barnes hears an assurance that might have eased the friends' suspicion of wickedness in him. Clarke hears a promise of conscience kept before God.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
And so he says, "my lips will not speak evil," in saying everyone who suffers adversities is evil, "nor will my tongue practice deceit," in saying that it belongs to divine justice to reward the merits of the just by present prosperity and to punish …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
My lips shall not speak wickedness,....
On the other hand, since he was conscious to himself of his integrity, and that he was not such a man as his friends represented him, he would never betray his integrity, nor charge himself with that which he was innocent of.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
My lips shall not speak wickedness - As I have hitherto lived in all good conscience before God, as he knoweth, so will I continue to live.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
My lips shall not speak wickedness - This solemn profession made on oath might have done something to allay the suspicions of his friends in regard to him, and to show that they had been mistaken in his character. It is a solemn assurance that he did not mean to vindicate the cause of wickedness, or to say one word in its favor; and that as long as he lived he would never be found advocating it. Nor my tongue utter deceit - I will never make any use of sophistry; I will not attempt to make “the worse appear the better reason;” I will not be the advocate of error. This had always been the aim of Job, and he now says that no circumstance should ever induce him to pursue a different course as long as he lived. Probably he means, also, as the following verse seems to imply, that no consideration should ever induce him to countenance error or to palliate wrong. He would not be deterred from expressing his sentiments by any dread of opposition, or even by any respect for his friends. No friendship which he might have for them would induce him to justify what he honestly regarded as error.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אִם־ | ʾim- | if | H518 → | 1069 times |
| תְּדַבֵּ֣רְנָה | tedaberenah | they will speak | H1696 → | 1141 times |
| שְׂפָתַ֣י | sefatai | lips my | H8193 → | 176 times |
| עַוְלָ֑ה | ʾavlah | injustice | H5766 → | 54 times |
| וּ֝לְשׁוֹנִ֗י | uleshoni | and tongue my | H3956 → | 117 times |
| אִם־ | ʾim- | if | H518 → | 1069 times |
| יֶהְגֶּ֥ה | yehgeh | it will utter | H1897 → | |
| רְמִיָּֽה׃ | remiyah | deceit | H7423 → |
אִם־if
ʾim-H518 →1069 times
תְּדַבֵּ֣רְנָהthey will speak
tedaberenahH1696 →1141 times
שְׂפָתַ֣יlips my
sefataiH8193 →176 times
עַוְלָ֑הinjustice
ʾavlahH5766 →54 times
וּ֝לְשׁוֹנִ֗יand tongue my
uleshoniH3956 →117 times
אִם־if
ʾim-H518 →1069 times
יֶהְגֶּ֥הit will utter
yehgehH1897 →
רְמִיָּֽה׃deceit
remiyahH7423 →
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 13:7Will you speak wickedly on God’s behalf or speak deceitfully for Him?
it leads to
- Job 36:4
For truly my words are free of falsehood; one perfect in knowledge is with you.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Job 36:4
Through
John 8:55You 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.
it leads to
- John 8:19
“Where is Your Father?” they asked Him. “You do not know Me or My Father,” Jesus answered. “If you knew Me, you would know My Father as well.”
- John 7:28–29
Then Jesus, still teaching in the temple courts, cried out, “You know Me, and you know where I am from. I have not come of My own accord, but He who sent Me is…
- John 8:44
You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out his desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, refusing to uphold the truth, because there is no truth in him.…
- Matthew 11:27
All things have been entrusted to Me by My Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses…
- Revelation 3:9
Look at those who belong to the synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews but are liars instead. I will make them come and bow down at your feet, and they will know…
- John 8:19
Through
Job 34:6Would I lie about my case? My wound is incurable, though I am without transgression.’
it leads to
- Job 6:4
For the arrows of the Almighty have pierced me; my spirit drinks in their poison; the terrors of God are arrayed against me.
- Job 6:4
Through
2 Corinthians 11:10As surely as the truth of Christ is in me, this boasting of mine will not be silenced in the regions of Achaia.
it leads to
- Romans 9:1
I speak the truth in Christ; I am not lying, as confirmed by my conscience in the Holy Spirit.
- Romans 9:1
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Job
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book XVIII; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.