Job 9:22
in Job 9It is all the same, and so I say, ‘He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.’
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
It is all one; therefore I say, He destroyeth the perfect and the wicked.
KJV
This is one thing, therefore I said it, He destroyeth the perfect and the wicked.
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This verse in Job 9
Commentary
9 notes on this verseThis is one thing, that I have spoken, He destroyeth both the perfect and the wicked. The 'perfect man is destroyed' by the Creator, in that whatever his pureness may have been, it is swallowed up by the pureness of the divine immensity. For though we take heed to preserve pureness, yet by consideration of the interior Perfection it is shewn, that this which we practise is not purity; 'the wicked' likewise is 'destroyed' by the Creator, in that whilst God ordereth all things marvellously, his wickedness is caught in the noose of his own artifices.
This site's exposition
Even if I were righteous, my mouth would condemn me
on Job 9:20-22
"Even if I were righteous, my mouth would condemn me" states Job's despair of the process: any words he offers could be turned against him. "He destroys both the blameless and the wicked" is the hardest sentence Job speaks, a charge God never repeats and Job himself retracts at 42:6.
This site's exposition
It is all the same
Here Job sets himself against Bildad, who said at Job 8:20 that God does not reject the blameless. Barnes reads Job as saying God treats the blameless and the wicked by one rule. Clarke limits it to sudden disaster.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
After Blessed Job has shown that it is not his intention to argue with God, he proposes the principle issue in dispute between him and his adversaries. For Eliphaz had said that punishments from God are only sent for sins. Job had spoken against this …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
), and triumph over them, saying, O death! where is thy sting? On the other hand, the wicked are so far from being made the marks of God's judgments that the earth is given into their hand,
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This is one thing,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
This is one thing - My own observation shows, that in the course of providence the righteous and the wicked have an equal lot; for when any sudden calamity comes, the innocent and the guilty fall alike. There may be a few exceptions, but they are very extraordinary, and very rare.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
one thing--"It is all one; whether perfect or wicked--He destroyeth." This was the point Job maintained against his friends, that the righteous and wicked alike are afflicted, and that great sufferings here do not prove great guilt (Lu 13:1-5;
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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
This is one thing, therefore I said it - This may mean, “it is all the same thing. It makes no difference whether a man be righteous or wicked. God treats them substantially alike; he has one and the same rule on the subject. Nothing can be argued certainly about the character of a man from the divine dealings with him here.” This was the point in dispute, this the position that Job maintained - that God did not deal with people here in strict accordance with their character, but that the righteous and the wicked in this world were afflicted alike. He destroyeth the perfect and the wicked - He makes no distinction among them. That Job was right in this his main position there can be no doubt; and the wonder is, that his friends did not all see it. But it required a long time in the course of events, and much observation and discussion, before this important point was made clear. With our full views of the state of retribution in the future world, we can have no doubt on the subject. Heavy and sudden judgments do not necessarily prove that they who are cut off are especially guilty, and long prosperity is no evidence that a man is holy. Calamity, by fire and flood, on a steamboat, or in the pestilence, does not demonstrate the unusual and eminent wickedness of those who suffer (compare Luk 13:1-5), nor should those who escape from such calamities infer that of necessity they are the objects of the divine favor.
The words behind it
9 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אַחַ֗ת | ʾachat | [is] one | H259 → | 971 times |
| הִ֥יא | hi' | it | H1931 → | 1879 times |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | there- | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| כֵּ֥ן | ken | -fore | H3651 → | 771 times |
| אָמַ֑רְתִּי | ʾamarti | I say | H559 → | 5305 times |
| תָּ֥ם | tam | [the] blameless | H8535 → | 16 times |
| וְ֝רָשָׁ֗ע | verasha' | and [the] wicked | H7563 → | 263 times |
| ה֣וּא | hu' | he | H1931 → | 1879 times |
| מְכַלֶּֽה׃ | mekhaleh | [is] bringing to an end | H3615 → | 208 times |
אַחַ֗ת[is] one
ʾachatH259 →971 times
הִ֥יאit
hi'H1931 →1879 times
עַל־there-
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
כֵּ֥ן-fore
kenH3651 →771 times
אָמַ֑רְתִּיI say
ʾamartiH559 →5305 times
תָּ֥ם[the] blameless
tamH8535 →16 times
וְ֝רָשָׁ֗עand [the] wicked
verasha'H7563 →263 times
ה֣וּאhe
hu'H1931 →1879 times
מְכַלֶּֽה׃[is] bringing to an end
mekhalehH3615 →208 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
5 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 10:8Your hands shaped me and altogether formed me. Would You now turn and destroy me?
it leads to
- Psalms 119:73
Your hands have made me and fashioned me; give me understanding to learn Your commandments.
- Job 10:3
Does it please You to oppress me, to reject the work of Your hands and favor the schemes of the wicked?
- Isaiah 43:7
everyone called by My name and created for My glory, whom I have indeed formed and made.”
- Jeremiah 18:3–10
So I went down to the potter’s house and saw him working at the wheel.
- Genesis 6:6–7
And the LORD regretted that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.
- Psalms 119:73
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; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book IX; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.