Job 35:8
in Job 35Your wickedness affects only a man like yourself, and your righteousness only a son of man.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Thy wickedness may hurt a man as thou art; And thy righteousness may profit a son of man.
KJV
Thy wickedness may hurt a man as thou art; and thy righteousness may profit the son of man.
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This verse in Job 35
Commentary
10 notes on this verseThine iniquity will hurt a man, who is like thee, and thy righteousness will profit the son of man. The iniquity of man hurts him, whom it pollutes by perversion. And, again, our righteousness profits him, whom it converts from his wickedness. For those things cannot either hurt, or profit, which cannot either corrupt from what is good, or change from what is evil. The powers above, then, cannot be either hurt, or profiled, because they have already received to be free from change. But they who are involved in earthly desires, cannot consider these things.
This site's exposition
Look to the heavens and see
on Job 35:5-8
Satan asked at 1:9 whether Job's piety was paid, Elihu asks whether God is paid, and both hold that righteousness cannot bind the Most High. Delitzsch finds the answer's weight in verse 8, where wickedness affects only “a man like yourself”, so sin and virtue land on neighbors.
This site's exposition
a man like yourself
Ishodad of Merv asks why God judges sins that never harm Him. Verse 9 gives his answer. People cry out under oppression, and the harm done to a man like yourself brings God to judge.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church2 voices
One could object that God did not care whether man acts justly or unjustly. To answer this he then adds, "Your impiety will harm man who is your fellow creature", because he can receive harm; "and your justice will help a son of man," who …
"Your wickedness affects others like you." If one asks, "Why does God judge [the wicked] if their sin does not harm him personally?" [the author] brings forward the reason and says, "Because of the multitude of oppressions people cry out; they call for help." It …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
A wicked man may wound, or rob, or slander his neighbour, or may draw him into sin and so prejudice his soul. Thy righteousness, thy justice, thy charity, thy wisdom, thy piety, may perhaps profit the son of man. Our goodness extends to the saints that are in the earth, Ps. xvi.
Thy wickedness may hurt a man as thou art,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
Thy wickedness may hurt - It is better to translate this literally: To a man like thyself is thy wickedness: And to the son of man, thy righteousness: That is: - Thou mayest injure thyself and others by thy wickedness, And thou mayest benefit both by thy righteousness; But God thou canst neither hurt nor profit.
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)
Elihu like Eliphaz (Job 22:2, 3, 12) shows that God is too exalted in nature to be susceptible of benefit or hurt from the righteousness or sin of men respectively; it is themselves that they benefit by righteousness, or hurt by sin. behold the clouds, which are higher than thou--spoken with irony.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Thy wickedness may hurt a Man as thou art - That is, it may injure him, but not God. He is too far exalted above man, and too independent of man in his sources of happiness, to be affected by what he can do. The object of the whole passage Job 35:6-8 is, to show that God is independent of people, and is not governed in his dealings with them on the principles which regulate their conduct with each other. One man may be greatly benefited by the conduct of another, and may feel under obligation to reward him for it; or he maybe greatly injured in his person, property, or reputation, by another, and will endeavor to avenge himself. But nothing of this kind can happen to God. If he rewards, therefore, it must be of his grace and mercy, not because he is laid under obligation; if he inflicts chastisement, it must be because people deserve it, and not because God has been injured. In this reasoning Elihu undoubtedly refers to Job, whom he regards as having urged a “claim” to a different kind of treatment, because he supposed that he “deserved” it. The general principle of Elihu is clearly correct, that God is entirely independent of human beings; that neither our good nor evil conduct can effect his happiness, and that consequently his dealings with us are those of impartial justice.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| לְאִישׁ־ | leish- | [is] for a person | H376 → | 1663 times |
| כָּמ֥וֹךָ | kamokha | like yourself | H3644 → | 143 times |
| רִשְׁעֶ֑ךָ | rishekha | wickedness your | H7562 → | 30 times |
| וּלְבֶן־ | uleven- | and [is] for a child of | H1121 → | 4930 times |
| אָ֝דָ֗ם | ʾadam | humankind | H120 → | 551 times |
| צִדְקָתֶֽךָ׃ | tzidkatecha | righteousness your | H6666 → | 157 times |
לְאִישׁ־[is] for a person
leish-H376 →1663 times
כָּמ֥וֹךָlike yourself
kamokhaH3644 →143 times
רִשְׁעֶ֑ךָwickedness your
rishekhaH7562 →30 times
וּלְבֶן־and [is] for a child of
uleven-H1121 →4930 times
אָ֝דָ֗םhumankind
ʾadamH120 →551 times
צִדְקָתֶֽךָ׃righteousness your
tzidkatechaH6666 →157 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
Genesis 12:2I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.
it leads to
- 2 Samuel 7:9
I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have cut off all your enemies from before you. Now I will make for you a name like the greatest in the land.
- Galatians 3:14
He redeemed us in order that the blessing promised to Abraham would come to the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.
- Genesis 18:18
Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and through him all the nations of the earth will be blessed.
- Genesis 17:4–6
“As for Me, this is My covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations.
- Genesis 28:3–4
May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you, so that you may become a company of peoples.
- 2 Samuel 7:9
Through
Psalms 106:30But Phinehas stood and intervened, and the plague was restrained.
it leads to
- Joshua 7:12
This is why the Israelites cannot stand against their enemies. They will turn their backs and run from their enemies, because they themselves have been set apart for destruction. I will no longer be…
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Numbers 25:6–8
Just then an Israelite man brought to his family a Midianite woman in the sight of Moses and the whole congregation of Israel while they were weeping at the entrance to the Tent of…
- Joshua 7:12
Through
Job 42:8So now, take seven bulls and seven rams, go to My servant Job, and sacrifice a burnt offering for yourselves. Then My servant Job will pray for you, for I will accept his prayer…
it leads to
- Numbers 23:1
Then Balaam said to Balak, “Build for me seven altars here, and prepare for me seven bulls and seven rams.”
- Numbers 23:1
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 on the Book of Job; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Book of Job; Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book XXVI; Ishodad of Merv, COMMENTARY ON JOB 35:8; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.