Job 4:17
in Job 4‘Can a mortal be more righteous than God, or a man more pure than his Maker?
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
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?
⋯
This verse in Job 4
Commentary
11 notes on this verseShall 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?
This site's exposition
Then a spirit glided past my face
on Job 4:15-17
A spirit "glided past my face" and stood, its form beyond discerning. Then "a whispering voice" gave the doctrine's climax, "Can a mortal be more righteous than God, or a man more pure than his Maker". The book's crux is whether Eliphaz applied a true word to a false case.
This site's exposition
Can a mortal be more righteous than God
The two words for man mark weakness and strength, as Jamieson, Fausset and Brown note, so no man, feeble or mighty, is righteous before God. Olympiodorus hears Eliphaz saying that no one is wholly blameless before the eye of God. Job grants the point at Job 9:2.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
And do not think, Eliphaz says, that I am speaking these words to you reproachfully. No person, in fact, is totally blameless, and if he can hide his sins from people, he does not hide them from God's all-seeing eye that knows everything accurately. This …
The Medieval Church1 voice
Finally, he expresses the words which he asserts were revealed to him when he says, "Can mortal man be righteous before God?" He introduces these words to confirm his opinion which he already touched on (v. 7), namely, that adversities do not happen to someone …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
4 Thy words have upholden him that was falling, and thou hast strengthened the feeble knees. 5 But now it is come upon thee, and thou faintest; it toucheth thee, and thou art troubled. 6 Is not this thy fear, thy confidence, thy hope, and the uprightness of thy ways?
quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — verbatim-scripture
Shall mortal man be more just than God?....
Those that quarrel and find fault with the directions of the divine law, the dispensations of the divine grace, or the disposals of the divine providence, make themselves more just and pure than God; and those who thus reprove God, let them answer it. What! sinful man! (for he would not have been mortal if he had not been sinful) short-sighted man!
3 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
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:
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
mortal man . . . a man--Two Hebrew words for "man" are used; the first implying his feebleness; the second his strength. Whether feeble or strong, man is not righteous before God. more just than God . . . more pure than his maker--But this would be self-evident without an oracle.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
Shall mortal man - אנוש enosh; Greek βροτος poor, weak, dying man. Be more just than God? - Or, האנוש מאלוה יצדק haenosh meeloah yitsdak; shall poor, weak, sinful man be justified before God? Shall a man - גבר gaber, shall even the strong and mighty man, be pure before his Maker? Is any man, considered merely in and of himself, either holy in his conduct, or pure in his heart? No. He must be justified by the mercy of God, through an atoning sacrifice; he must be sanctified by the Holy Spirit of God, and thus made a partaker of the Divine nature. Then he is justified before God, and pure in the sight of his Maker: and this is a work which God himself alone can do; so the work is not man’s work, but God’s. It is false to infer, from the words of this spectre, (whether it came from heaven or hell, we know not, for its communication shows and rankles a wound, without providing a cure), that no man can be justified, and that no man can be purified, when God both justifies the ungodly, and sanctifies the unholy. The meaning can be no more than this: no man can make an atonement for his own sins, nor purify his own heart. Hence all boasting is for ever excluded. Of this Eliphaz believed Job to be guilty, as he appeared to talk of his righteousness and purity, as if they had been his own acquisition.
The words behind it
7 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| הַֽ֭אֱנוֹשׁ | haenoosh | ¿ a person | H582 → | 566 times |
| מֵאֱל֣וֹהַ | meeloha | from God | H433 → | 57 times |
| יִצְדָּ֑ק | yitzdak | will he be righteous | H6663 → | 41 times |
| אִ֥ם | ʾim | or? | H518 → | 1069 times |
| מֵ֝עֹשֵׂ֗הוּ | meosehu | from maker his | H6213 → | 2628 times |
| יִטְהַר־ | yithar- | will he be pure | H2891 → | |
| גָּֽבֶר׃ | gaver | a man | H1397 → | 65 times |
הַֽ֭אֱנוֹשׁ¿ a person
haenooshH582 →566 times
מֵאֱל֣וֹהַfrom God
meelohaH433 →57 times
יִצְדָּ֑קwill he be righteous
yitzdakH6663 →41 times
אִ֥םor?
ʾimH518 →1069 times
מֵ֝עֹשֵׂ֗הוּfrom maker his
meosehuH6213 →2628 times
יִטְהַר־will he be pure
yithar-H2891 →
גָּֽבֶר׃a man
gaverH1397 →65 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
Jeremiah 17:9The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?
it leads to
- Mark 7:21–22
For from within the hearts of men come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery,
- Matthew 15:19
For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, and slander.
- Ecclesiastes 9:3
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…
- Proverbs 28:26
He who trusts in himself is a fool, but one who walks in wisdom will be safe.
- Hebrews 3:12
See to it, brothers, that none of you has a wicked heart of unbelief that turns away from the living God.
- Mark 7:21–22
Through
Ecclesiastes 7:20Surely there is no righteous man on earth who does good and never sins.
it leads to
- Romans 3:23
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
- Isaiah 53:6
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.
- Romans 3:23
Through
Psalms 143:2Do not bring Your servant into judgment, for no one alive is righteous before You.
it leads to
- Psalms 130:3
If You, O LORD, kept track of iniquities, then who, O Lord, could stand?
Reached by 3 separate paths from here.
- Psalms 130:3
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Job
This page draws on 11 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; 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 V; 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; Olympiodorus of Alexandria, Commentary on Job; Olympiodorus of Alexandria, COMMENTARY ON JOB 4:17 and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.