Job 36:17
in Job 36But now you are laden with the judgment due the wicked; judgment and justice have seized you.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
But thou art full of the judgment of the wicked: Judgment and justice take hold on thee.
KJV
But thou hast fulfilled the judgment of the wicked: judgment and justice take hold on thee.
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This verse in Job 36
Commentary
10 notes on this verseBut thy cause hath been judged as the cause of the ungodly, thou shall receive thy cause and judgment. The cause of the good, is righteousness. And their cause is judged, as the cause of the ungodly, because their righteousness is here smitten with fatherly correction, that they may be taught to exercise greater vigilance, not only by the injunction of commands, but by the infliction of blows.
This site's exposition
The godless in heart harbor resentment
on Job 36:13-21
Elihu warns Job directly that he is “laden with the judgment due the wicked”, and that “judgment and justice have seized you”. Wesley takes “Do not long for the night” in verse 20 as a warning against wishing for death, the wish Job voiced in chapter 3.
This site's exposition
judgment and justice have seized you
John Wesley reads the judgment due the wicked as Job's taking up the hard words wicked men speak against God. Matthew Henry, following Bishop Patrick, says a man shares in the sentence on the cause he maintains. Gregory the Dialogist reads it of fatherly correction.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
Since he has shown that "God does not cast out the powerful," (v. 5) but the wicked, whereas Job seemed to be cast out by God through many adversities, so he says, "Your cause has been judged as evil," as if to say: You were …
The Puritans and the Awakening4 voices
But thou hast fulfilled the judgment of the wicked,.... Some (w) take this to be a continuation of the happiness Job would have enjoyed, had he behaved in his affliction as he ought to have done; then he would have been filled to satisfaction, by seeing the judgments of God exercised on wicked men, as on the Chaldeans and Sabeans, who had injured him: "and judgment and justice would have upheld thee"; when they should be cast down.
The judgment - Or, the sentence, thou hast justified the hard speeches which wicked men utter against God. Therefore - Therefore the just judgment of God takes hold on thee.
Thou hast maintained the cause of the wicked; and such as a man's cause is such will the judgment of God be upon him;" so bishop Patrick. It is dangerous being on the wrong side: accessaries to treason will be dealt with as principals.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — odd-straight-quotes
His demonstration of God's sovereignty and omnipotence, which he gives instances of in the operations of common providence, and which is a reason why we should all submit to him in his dealings with us,
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
But thou hast fulfilled the judgment of the wicked - Rosenmuller explains this as meaning, “If under divine inflictions and chastisements you wish to imitate the obduracy of the wicked, then the cause and the punishment will mutually sustain them selves; that is, the one will be commensurate with the other.” But it is not necessary to regard this as a “supposition.” It has rather the aspect of; an affirmation, meaning to express the fact that Job “had,” as Elihu feared, envinced the same spirit in his trials which the wicked do.
But thou hast fulfilled the judgment of the wicked - As thou art acting like the wicked, so God deals with thee as he deals with them. Elihu is not a whit behind Job’s other friends. None of them seems to have known any thing of the permission given by God to Satan to afflict and torment an innocent man.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְדִין־ | vedin- | and judgment of | H1779 → | 20 times |
| רָשָׁ֥ע | rasha' | [the] wicked | H7563 → | 263 times |
| מָלֵ֑אתָ | maleta | you are full | H4390 → | 249 times |
| דִּ֖ין | din | judgment | H1779 → | 20 times |
| וּמִשְׁפָּ֣ט | umishpat | and justice | H4941 → | 422 times |
| יִתְמֹֽכוּ׃ | yitmokhu | they take hold of [you] | H8551 → |
וְדִין־and judgment of
vedin-H1779 →20 times
רָשָׁ֥ע[the] wicked
rasha'H7563 →263 times
מָלֵ֑אתָyou are full
maletaH4390 →249 times
דִּ֖יןjudgment
dinH1779 →20 times
וּמִשְׁפָּ֣טand justice
umishpatH4941 →422 times
יִתְמֹֽכוּ׃they take hold of [you]
yitmokhuH8551 →
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
Romans 1:32Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things are worthy of death, they not only continue to do these things, but also approve of those who practice them.
it leads to
- Psalms 50:18
When you see a thief, you befriend him, and throw in your lot with adulterers.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Romans 2:1–5
You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on another. For on whatever grounds you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things.
- Romans 1:21
For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but they became futile in their thinking and darkened in their foolish hearts.
- Psalms 50:18
Through
Revelation 18:4Then I heard another voice from heaven say: “Come out of her, My people, so that you will not share in her sins or contract any of her plagues.
it leads to
- Isaiah 52:11
Depart, depart, go out from there! Touch no unclean thing; come out from it, purify yourselves, you who carry the vessels of the LORD.
- 2 Corinthians 6:17
“Therefore come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.”
- Jeremiah 51:6
Flee from Babylon! Escape with your lives! Do not be destroyed in her punishment. For this is the time of the LORD’s vengeance; He will pay her what she deserves.
- Jeremiah 51:45
Come out of her, My people! Save your lives, each of you, from the fierce anger of the LORD.
- Jeremiah 50:8
Flee from the midst of Babylon; depart from the land of the Chaldeans; be like the he-goats that lead the flock.
- Isaiah 52:11
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; 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.