Job 9:3
in Job 9If one wished to contend with God, he could not answer Him one time out of a thousand.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
If he be pleased to contend with him, He cannot answer him one of a thousand.
KJV
If he will contend with him, he cannot answer him one of a thousand.
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This verse in Job 9
Commentary
10 notes on this verseIf thou wilt contend with Him, thou shalt not be able to answer Him one of a thousand. In Holy Scripture, the number a thousand is wont to be taken for totality. Hence the Psalmist saith, The word which He commanded to a thousand generations; when it is sufficiently plain that from the very beginning of the world up to the coming of our Lord no more than seventy-seven generations are reckoned up by the Evangelist.
This site's exposition
Then Job answered
on Job 9:1-4
Job answers Bildad's true doctrine with the question the whole book turns on: "how can a mortal be righteous before God". A man who contends with God "could not answer Him one time out of a thousand," against a party who is both accuser and judge.
This site's exposition
If one wished to contend with God
Contend is a word of the court, as Barnes notes, a suit at law between God and man. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown take the thousand as God's questions, and Clarke takes it as a thousand charges. Either way a man could answer none.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
"He is wise in mind, mighty and strong," with good reason. Indeed, since God is wise, his benefits are countless. But if you do not believe, O mortal, let us bring our reflection to its conclusion. If he pronounces one thousand words, we cannot answer a single one. These are wise words. In fact, that righteous man said, "Also the righteous will be happy." About what righteous man is he speaking? But where will we ever find a man who is righteous before God? "Not one of his thousand words." This is exactly what the prophet said as well: "No living person will be found righteous before you." "If you observe our faults, O Lord, O Lord, who will survive?" … God has created human nature. Why? Out of pure benevolence, as all the rest of creation. He has created the universe and all the rest for humans. He stated a commandment, but humanity did not consider it. Afterward he gave them the law, but they neglected it. Then he sent his Son, but they did not consider him either. Then he gave them repentance, but they did not ponder it. Then he threatened them with the punishment of hell, but they disregarded it. But why did he want to save them? Do you want us to ask Paul himself? Listen to what he says: "God dealt with me mercifully because I acted in the ignorance of disbelief." And then, after being called, Paul testified to the profound and providential care, of which he was an object.
The Medieval Church1 voice
He consequently shows a sign of how he knows this. When a man is just in comparison to another man, he can freely and securely argue with him, because justice and truth are made clear in mutual discussion. However, no man is secure when he …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
We cannot set aside one as foreign, another as frivolous, and another as false. We cannot, as to one, deny the fact, and plead not guilty, and, as to another, deny the fault, confess and justify. No, we are not able to answer him, but must lay our hand upon our mouth, as Job did ( ch. xl.
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If he will contend with him,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
If he will contend with him - That is, if God enters into a controversy with man. If he chooses to charge crime on him, and to hold him responsible for his deeds. The language here is taken from courts of justice, and means that if a trial were instituted, where God should submit charges, and the matter were left to adjudication, man could not answer the charges against him; compare the notes at Isa 41:1. He cannot answer him one of a thousand - For one of a thousand of the sins charged on him.
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
If he--God will contend with him--literally, "deign to enter into judgment." he cannot answer, &c.--He (man) would not dare, even if he had a thousand answers in readiness to one question of God's, to utter one of them, from awe of His Majesty.
If he will contend with him - God is so holy, and his law so strict, that if he will enter into judgment with his creatures, the most upright of them cannot be justified in his sight. One of a thousand - Of a thousand offenses of which he may be accused he cannot vindicate himself even in one. How little that any man does, even in the way of righteousness, truth, and mercy, can stand the penetrating eye of a just and holy God, when all motives, feelings, and objects, come to be scrutinized in his sight, on this ground, no man living can be justified. O, how necessary to fallen, weak, miserable, imperfect and sinful man, is the doctrine of justification by faith, and sanctification through the Divine Spirit, by the sacrificial death and mediation of the Lord Jesus Christ!
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אִם־ | ʾim- | if | H518 → | 1069 times |
| יַ֭חְפֹּץ | yachpotz | someone desires | H2654 → | 74 times |
| לָרִ֣יב | lariv | to conduct a case | H7378 → | 67 times |
| עִמּ֑וֹ | imo | with him | H5973 → | 1050 times |
| לֹֽא־ | lo'- | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| יַ֝עֲנֶ֗נּוּ | yaanenu | he will answer him | H6030 → | 331 times |
| אַחַ֥ת | ʾachat | one [time] | H259 → | 971 times |
| מִנִּי־ | mini- | from | H4480 → | 1188 times |
| אָֽלֶף׃ | ʾalef | a thousand | H505 → | 505 times |
אִם־if
ʾim-H518 →1069 times
יַ֭חְפֹּץsomeone desires
yachpotzH2654 →74 times
לָרִ֣יבto conduct a case
larivH7378 →67 times
עִמּ֑וֹwith him
imoH5973 →1050 times
לֹֽא־not
lo'-H3808 →5168 times
יַ֝עֲנֶ֗נּוּhe will answer him
yaanenuH6030 →331 times
אַחַ֥תone [time]
ʾachatH259 →971 times
מִנִּי־from
mini-H4480 →1188 times
אָֽלֶף׃a thousand
ʾalefH505 →505 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
Psalms 19:12Who can discern his own errors? Cleanse me from my hidden faults.
it leads to
- Psalms 139:23–24
Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my concerns.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Psalms 90:8
You have set our iniquities before You, our secret sins in the light of Your presence.
- Job 6:24
Teach me, and I will be silent. Help me understand how I have erred.
- Jeremiah 17:9
The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?
- Psalms 40:12
For evils without number surround me; my sins have overtaken me, so that I cannot see. They are more than the hairs of my head, and my heart has failed within me.
- Psalms 139:23–24
Through
Job 40:2“Will the faultfinder contend with the Almighty? Let him who argues with God give an answer.”
it leads to
- 1 Corinthians 2:16
“For who has known the mind of the Lord, so as to instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ.
- Isaiah 40:14
Whom did He consult to enlighten Him, and who taught Him the paths of justice? Who imparted knowledge to Him and showed Him the way of understanding?
- Romans 11:34–36
“Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been His counselor?”
- 1 Corinthians 2:16
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 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 Chrysostom, COMMENTARY ON JOB 9:4A; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.