Job 4:17
‘Can a mortal be more righteous than God, or a man more pure than his Maker?
BSB
ASV
Shall mortal man be more just than God? Shall a man be more pure than his Maker?
KJV
Shall mortal man be more just than God? shall a man be more pure than his maker?
Shall mortal man be more just than God? Shall a man be more pure than his Maker? Human righteousness compared with the righteousness of God is unrighteousness, for even a candle is seen to shine bright in the dark, but being set in the ray of the sun its light is darkened. What then did Eliphaz learn when he was transported in contemplation, saving that man cannot be justified in comparison with God?
Shall mortal man - Or, shall feeble man. The idea of “mortal” is not necessarily implied in the word used here, אנושׁ 'ĕnôsh. It means man; and is usually applied to the lower classes or ranks of people; see the notes at Isa 8:1. The common opinion in regard to this word is, that it is derived from אנשׁ 'ânash, to be sick, or ill at ease; and then desperate, or incurable - as of a disease or wound; Jer 15:18; Mic 1:9; Job 34:
Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread: the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.
The walk8
Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.
Through
Jeremiah 17:9The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?
leads to
For from within the hearts of men come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery,
For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, and slander.
This is an evil in everything that is done under the sun: There is one fate for everyone. Furthermore, the hearts of men are full of evil and madness while they are alive, and…
He who trusts in himself is a fool, but one who walks in wisdom will be safe.
See to it, brothers, that none of you has a wicked heart of unbelief that turns away from the living God.
Through
Ecclesiastes 7:20Surely there is no righteous man on earth who does good and never sins.
leads to
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
We all like sheep have gone astray, each one has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid upon Him the iniquity of us all.
Through
Psalms 143:2Do not bring Your servant into judgment, for no one alive is righteous before You.
leads to
If You, O LORD, kept track of iniquities, then who, O Lord, could stand?
Reached by 3 independent paths from here.