Job 27:6
in Job 27I will cling to my righteousness and never let go. As long as I live, my conscience will not accuse me.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go: My heart shall not reproach me so long as I live.
KJV
My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go: my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live.
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This verse in Job 27
Commentary
12 notes on this verseMy righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go,.... Meaning not his personal righteousness, or the righteousness of his works, as his justifying righteousness before God, and for acceptance with him; which no man that is convinced of the insufficiency of, as Job was, will hold fast, but renounce, and desire, with the Apostle Paul, not to be found in it, Php 3:
This site's exposition
I will never say that you are right
on Job 27:5-6
"I will never say that you are right" refuses the one settlement the friends have pressed, that Job confess a guilt he does not have. "I will maintain my integrity until I die" holds to the integrity of chapters 1 and 2 in Job's own words.
This site's exposition
I will cling to my righteousness and never let go
Barnes takes the righteousness Job clings to as his sense of integrity, the one comfort left when property and health were gone. Maurer, cited by Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, reads a conscience that will accuse none of his days. The integrity of verse 5 is the same claim.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
"I hold fast my righteousness and will not let it go." That means, I will not surrender, nor will the perseverance and resolution of my soul yield, but I will patiently and bravely bear my calamity.
This is what Job means, one who is full of iniquity has neither liberty to express himself nor to say what I say now. Rather, he has been taken away and stays silent. On the contrary, I did not experience that, but I speak and answer. But the same does not happen to those who are iniquitous.
The Medieval Church3 voices
A commentator
Gregory the DialogistMorals on the Book of Job, Book XVIII · Written before 604.
proposed
My righteousness, which I began to hold fast, I will not abandon. For neither doth mine heart reproach me in all my life. For 'his righteousness' that he had 'begun with,' he would 'abandon,' if he went out of the way into the praising of persons committing sin.
As I do not propose to change from innocence to harm, so I do not propose to desert the way of justice, and so he says, "My justification," which pertains to the execution of justice, "which I held in the beginning," by not approving a …
"My heart does not reproach me for any of my days." Job has no resentment in himself, and his conscience does not reproach him for any shameful act that he might have committed.
4 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
It is God that justifies. To resolve that our hearts shall not reproach us when we give them cause to do so is to affront God, whose deputy conscience is, and to wrong ourselves; for it is a good thing, when a man has sinned, to have a heart within him to smite him for it, 2 Sam. xxiv.
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
My righteousness I hold fast - I stand firmly on this ground; I have endeavored to live an upright life, and my afflictions are not the consequence of my sins. My heart shall not reproach me - I shall take care so to live that I shall have a conscience void of offense before God and man. “Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God;” 1Jn 3:21. This seems to be Job’s meaning.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Rather, my "heart" (conscience) reproaches "not one of my days," that is, I do not repent of any of my days since I came into existence [MAURER].
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
My righteousness I hold fast - I hold on to the consciousness of integrity and uprightness. I cannot, will not, part with that. Job had lost his property, his health, and his domestic comforts, but he had in all this one consolation - he felt that he was sincere. He had been subjected to calamity by God as if he were a wicked man, but still he was resolved to adhere to the consciousness of his uprightness. Property may leave a man; friends may forsake him; children may die; disease may attack him; slander may assail him; and death may approach him; but still he may have in his bosom one unfailing source of consolation; he may have the consciousness that his aim has been right and pure. That nothing can shake; of that, no storms or tempests, no malignant foe, no losses or disappointment, no ridicule or calumny, can deprive him. My heart shall not reproach me - That is, as being insincere, false, hollow. So long as I live - Margin, “from my days.” So the Hebrew - מימי mı̂yāmāy. Vulgate in omni vita mea. Septuagint, “I am not conscious to myself of having done anything amiss” - ἄτοπα τράξας atopa pracas; compare the notes at 1Co 4:4. The idea is, that he had a consciousness of integrity, and that he meant to maintain it as long as he lived.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| בְּצִדְקָתִ֣י | betzidkati | on righteousness my | H6666 → | 157 times |
| הֶ֭חֱזַקְתִּי | hechezakti | I have kept hold | H2388 → | 291 times |
| וְלֹ֣א | velo' | and not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| אַרְפֶּ֑הָ | ʾarpeha | I will let go it | H7503 → | 46 times |
| לֹֽא־ | lo'- | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| יֶחֱרַ֥ף | yecheraf | it reproaches | H2778 → | |
| לְ֝בָבִ֗י | levavi | heart my | H3824 → | 252 times |
| מִיָּמָֽי׃ | miyamai | any of days my | H3117 → | 2304 times |
בְּצִדְקָתִ֣יon righteousness my
betzidkatiH6666 →157 times
הֶ֭חֱזַקְתִּיI have kept hold
hechezaktiH2388 →291 times
וְלֹ֣אand not
velo'H3808 →5168 times
אַרְפֶּ֑הָI will let go it
ʾarpehaH7503 →46 times
לֹֽא־not
lo'-H3808 →5168 times
יֶחֱרַ֥ףit reproaches
yecherafH2778 →
לְ֝בָבִ֗יheart my
levaviH3824 →252 times
מִיָּמָֽי׃any of days my
miyamaiH3117 →2304 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
Proverbs 4:13Hold on to instruction; do not let go. Guard it, for it is your life.
it leads to
- Hebrews 2:1
We must pay closer attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.
- Proverbs 3:18
She is a tree of life to those who embrace her, and those who lay hold of her are blessed.
- Proverbs 23:23
Invest in truth and never sell it—in wisdom and instruction and understanding.
- 1 Thessalonians 5:21
but test all things. Hold fast to what is good.
- Hebrews 2:1
Through
Acts 24:16In this hope, I strive always to maintain a clear conscience before God and man.
it leads to
- 1 Timothy 1:5
The goal of our instruction is the love that comes from a pure heart, a clear conscience, and a sincere faith.
- Acts 23:1
Paul looked directly at the Sanhedrin and said, “Brothers, I have conducted myself before God in all good conscience to this day.”
- 2 Corinthians 4:2
Instead, we have renounced secret and shameful ways. We do not practice deceit, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by open proclamation of the truth, we commend ourselves to…
- Hebrews 10:22
let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
- 1 Timothy 1:5
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Job
This page draws on 12 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Job; 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); Ephrem the Syrian, COMMENTARY ON JOB 27:6; Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book XVIII; Ishodad of Merv, COMMENTARY ON JOB 27:6; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Chrysostom, COMMENTARY ON JOB 27:5B-6; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.