Job 9:21
Though I am blameless, I have no concern for myself; I despise my own life.
BSB
ASV
I am perfect; I regard not myself; I despise my life.
KJV
Though I were perfect, yet would I not know my soul: I would despise my life.
Though I were perfect, even this my soul shall not know. Most commonly if we know the good things that we do, we are led to entertain pride; if we are ignorant of them, we cannot keep them.
In the judgment of Sodom indeed, which is called the vengeance of eternal fire ( Jude 7 ), far be it from God to slay the righteous with the wicked, and that the righteous should be as the wicked ( Gen. xviii. 25 ); but, in judgments merely temporal, the righteous have their share, and sometimes the greatest share.
Literally, here (and in Job 9:20), "I perfect! I should not know my soul! I would despise," [that is], "disown my life"; that is, Though conscious of innocence, I should be compelled, in contending with the infinite God, to ignore my own soul and despise my past life as if it were guilty [ROSENMULLER].
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
Job 1:1There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job. And this man was blameless and upright, fearing God and shunning evil.
leads to
See how blessed we consider those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen the outcome from the Lord. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.
then even if these three men—Noah, Daniel, and Job—were in it, their righteousness could deliver only themselves, declares the Lord GOD.
then as surely as I live, declares the Lord GOD, even if Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, they could not deliver their own sons or daughters. Their righteousness could deliver only themselves.
Then the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one on earth like him, a man who is blameless and upright, who fears God and shuns evil.…
Through
Proverbs 28:26He who trusts in himself is a fool, but one who walks in wisdom will be safe.
leads to
And He said to man, ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to turn away from evil is understanding.’”
Reached by 2 independent paths from here.
Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding;
The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?
because the mind of the flesh is hostile to God: It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so.
