Job 35:2
in Job 35“Do you think this is just? You say, ‘I am more righteous than God.’
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Thinkest thou this to be thy right, Or sayest thou, My righteousness is more than God’s,
KJV
Thinkest thou this to be right, that thou saidst, My righteousness is more than God’s?
⋯
This verse in Job 35
Commentary
9 notes on this verseDoth thy thought seem right to thee, that thou saidst, I am more righteous than God. Every one observes, who reads the text of the history, that blessed Job did not say that he was more righteous than God. But he says, Let Him put forth equity against me, and my judgment shall come to victory. [Job 23, 7. Vulg.] Examining namely his life, and not knowing the reasons of his smiting, as has been often observed, he believed that he was scourged for the sake of washing away his sins, and not of increasing his merits.
This site's exposition
And Elihu went on to say
on Job 35:1-4
Elihu opens his third speech by restating a charge against Job. Henry notes that Elihu summarizes Job instead of quoting him, tightening what Job argued in chapters 9 and 10 into one hard claim. Gill reads verse 3, “What does it profit me”, as Job's question turned into a complaint.
This site's exposition
I am more righteous than God
Adam Clarke renders the Hebrew as righteous before God, a far milder claim than more righteous than God. God Himself had called Job righteous. Clarke thinks Job could say it and be just.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
After Eliud had rejected the words of Job, because by his estimation Job imputed evil to divine judgment, he now intends to reproach him for saying that he was just. So the text says: "So Eliud spoke again," for he had interrupted his speech and …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Thinkest thou this to be right,.... Elihu appeals to Job himself, to his conscience and reason; who as a natural man, guided by the light of nature and reason only, and judging according to the dictates of a natural conscience, and especially as a good man, one that feared God, and had so much knowledge of him and his perfections, as his speeches showed, could never upon reflection think it right what he had said concerning God and his justice, as follows: that thou saidst, my righteousness is more than God's?
When we have said, in our haste, that which was not right, it becomes us to own that our second thoughts convince us that it was wrong. Two things Elihu here reproves Job for:-- 1. For justifying himself more than God, which was the thing that first provoked him, ch. xxxii.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
My righteousness is more than God’s? - This would indeed be a blasphemous saying; but Job never said so, neither directly nor constructively: it would be much better to translate the words צדקי מאל tsidki meel, I am righteous Before God. And Job’s meaning most certainly was, “Whatever I am in your sight, I know that in the sight of God I am a righteous man;” and he had a right to assume this character, because God himself had given it to him.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
25:4: "I am righteous (literally, my righteousness is) before God." The English Version, however, agrees with Job 9:17; Job 4:17 is susceptible of either rendering. Elihu means Job said so, not in so many words, but virtually.
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Thinkest thou this to be right? - This is the point which Elihu now proposes to examine. He, therefore, solemnly appeals to Job himself to determine whether he could himself say that he thought such a sentiment correct. That thou saidst, My righteousness is more than God’s - Job had nowhere said this in so many words, but Elihu regarded it as the substance of what he had said, or thought that what he had said amounted to the same thing. He had dwelt much on his own sincerity and uprightness of life; he had maintained that he had not been guilty of such crimes as to make these calamities deserved, and he had indulged in severe reflections on the dealings of God with him; compare Job 9:30-35; Job 10:13-15. All this Elihu interprets as equivalent to saying, that he was more righteous than his Maker. It cannot be denied that Job had given occasion for this interpretation to be put on his sentiments, though it cannot be supposed that he would have affirmed this in so many words.
The words behind it
6 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| הֲ֭זֹאת | hazot | ¿ this | H2063 → | 603 times |
| חָשַׁ֣בְתָּ | chashavta | do you consider | H2803 → | 124 times |
| לְמִשְׁפָּ֑ט | lemishpat | to justice | H4941 → | 422 times |
| אָ֝מַ֗רְתָּ | ʾamarta | you have said | H559 → | 5305 times |
| צִדְקִ֥י | tzidki | righteousness my | H6664 → | 119 times |
| מֵאֵֽל׃ | meel | [is] more than God | H410 → | 241 times |
הֲ֭זֹאת¿ this
hazotH2063 →603 times
חָשַׁ֣בְתָּdo you consider
chashavtaH2803 →124 times
לְמִשְׁפָּ֑טto justice
lemishpatH4941 →422 times
אָ֝מַ֗רְתָּyou have said
ʾamartaH559 →5305 times
צִדְקִ֥יrighteousness my
tzidkiH6664 →119 times
מֵאֵֽל׃[is] more than God
meelH410 →241 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 40:8Would you really annul My justice? Would you condemn Me to justify yourself?
it leads to
- Romans 3:4
Certainly not! Let God be true and every man a liar. As it is written: “So that You may be proved right when You speak and victorious when You judge.”
- Job 32:2
This kindled the anger of Elihu son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Ram. He burned with anger against Job for justifying himself rather than God,
- Isaiah 28:18
Your covenant with death will be dissolved, and your agreement with Sheol will not stand. When the overwhelming scourge passes through, you will be trampled by it.
- Romans 3:4
Through
Luke 19:22His master replied, ‘You wicked servant, I will judge you by your own words. So you knew that I am a harsh man, withdrawing what I did not deposit and reaping what I did…
it leads to
- 2 Samuel 1:16
For David had said to the Amalekite, “Your blood be on your own head because your own mouth has testified against you, saying, ‘I killed the LORD’s anointed.’”
- Matthew 12:37
For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.”
- 2 Samuel 1:16
Through
Job 10:7though You know that I am not guilty, and there is no deliverance from Your hand?
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 32:39
See now that I am He; there is no God besides Me. I bring death and I give life; I wound and I heal, and there is no one who can deliver from My…
- Deuteronomy 32:39
Through
Job 9:17For He would crush me with a tempest and multiply my wounds without cause.
it leads to
About Job
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book XXVI; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.