Job 9:14
in Job 9How then can I answer Him or choose my arguments against Him?
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
How much less shall I answer him, And choose out my words to reason with him?
KJV
How much less shall I answer him, and choose out my words to reason with him?
⋯
This verse in Job 9
Commentary
8 notes on this verseHow great am I that I should answer Him, and talk with Him in my words? As though he said in plain words, 'If that created being is unable to take thought of Him, which is not burthened by the flesh, in what spirit do I dispute about His judgments, who am straitened by the burthen of corruption?'
This site's exposition
How then can I answer Him
on Job 9:14-19
"How then can I answer Him or choose my arguments against Him" draws the conclusion. If mountains and stars obey without argument, a man has less standing still. "For even if I were right, I could not answer" states Job's fear that real innocence would find no hearing.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
Therefore, after he has shown in many ways the immensity of the divine power and the depth of the divine wisdom, he draws the conclusion to the proposition, namely that his intention is not to argue with God. He explains this when he says, "Am …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
No, let all flesh be silent before him. He durst not insist upon his own justification before God. Though he vindicated his own integrity to his friends, and would not yield that he was a hypocrite and a wicked man, as they suggested, yet he would never plead it as his righteousness before God.
How shall I - Since no creature can resist his power, and no man can comprehend his counsels and ways; how can I contend with him? Answer his allegations and arguments, produced against me.
How much less shall I answer him,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
How much less shall I answer - I cannot contend with my Maker. He is the Lawgiver and the Judge. How shall I stand in judgment before him?
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
How much less shall I answer him? - I, who am so feeble, how can I contend with him? If the most mighty objects in the universe are under his control; if the constellations are directed by him; if the earth is shaken, and mountains moved from their places, by his power, and if the men of most exalted rank are prostrated by him, how can I presume to contend with God? This is the common view which is given of the passage, and is evidently that which our translators entertained. But I have given in the translation what appears to me to be a more literal version, and to express a better sense - though, I confess, the translation differs from all that I have seen. According to this, the sense is simply, that such was the veneration which Job had for the character of God, that should he attempt to answer him, he would select his words with the utmost care and attention.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
will not hold back His wrath because of fear (other editions: righteousness) of a man.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 6 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אַ֭ף | ʾaf | indeed? | H637 → | 134 times |
| כִּֽי־ | ki- | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| אָנֹכִ֣י | ʾanokhi | I | H595 → | 359 times |
| אֶֽעֱנֶ֑נּוּ | ʾeenenu | I will answer him | H6030 → | 331 times |
| אֶבְחֲרָ֖ה | ʾevcharah | I will choose | H977 → | 171 times |
| דְבָרַ֣י | devarai | words my | H1697 → | 1440 times |
| עִמּֽוֹ׃ | imo | with him | H5973 → | 1050 times |
אַ֭ףindeed?
ʾafH637 →134 times
כִּֽי־for
ki-H3588 →4482 times
אָנֹכִ֣יI
ʾanokhiH595 →359 times
אֶֽעֱנֶ֑נּוּI will answer him
ʾeenenuH6030 →331 times
אֶבְחֲרָ֖הI will choose
ʾevcharahH977 →171 times
דְבָרַ֣יwords my
devaraiH1697 →1440 times
עִמּֽוֹ׃with him
imoH5973 →1050 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 4:19how much more those who dwell in houses of clay, whose foundations are in the dust, who can be crushed like a moth!
it leads to
- Job 10:9
Please remember that You molded me like clay. Would You now return me to dust?
- Genesis 2:7
Then the LORD God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and the man became a living being.
- Genesis 3:19
By the sweat of your brow you will eat your bread, until you return to the ground—because out of it were you taken. For dust you are, and to dust you shall return.”
- Job 33:6
I am just like you before God; I was also formed from clay.
- Job 10:9
Through
Job 9:3If one wished to contend with God, he could not answer Him one time out of a thousand.
it leads to
Through
Job 23:7Then an upright man could reason with Him, and I would be delivered forever from my Judge.
it leads to
- Job 13:3
Yet I desire to speak to the Almighty and argue my case before God.
- Job 13:3
Through
Job 33:5Refute me if you can; prepare your case and confront me.
it leads to
- Job 33:32–33
But if you have something to say, answer me; speak up, for I would like to vindicate you.
- Job 33:32–33
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Job
This page draws on 9 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 IX; 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.