Job 9:20

American Standard Version with Strong's Numbers

Though I be righteous, mine own mouth shall condemn me: Though I be perfect, it shall prove me perverse.

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

אִם־אֶ֭צְדָּק פִּ֣י יַרְשִׁיעֵ֑נִי תָּֽם־אָ֝֗נִי וַֽיַּעְקְשֵֽׁנִי׃

Transliteration

ʾim-ʾeṣdāq pî yaršîʿēnî tām-ʾānî wa-yaʿqəšēnî

Grammar Details

• *ʾim-ʾeṣdāq*: conditional particle + qal imperfect 1st person singular - if I justify myself
• *pî*: masculine singular noun + 1st person singular suffix - my mouth
• *yaršîʿēnî*: hiphil imperfect 3rd masculine singular + 1st person singular suffix - will condemn me
• *tām-ʾānî*: adjective masculine singular + 1st person singular independent pronoun - blameless am I
• *wa-yaʿqəšēnî*: conjunction + qal imperfect 3rd masculine singular + 1st person singular suffix - yet he will declare me crooked

Word Meanings

• *ʾeṣdāq*: to be right, be just, be righteous
• *pî*: mouth, opening, speech
• *yaršîʿēnî*: to declare guilty, condemn, prove wrong
• *tām*: complete, blameless, perfect
• *yaʿqəšēnî*: to twist, pervert, make crooked

Referenced Verses

• Job 34:35 : 35 Job speaketh without knowledge, And his words are without wisdom.
• Job 15:5-6 : 5 For thine iniquity teacheth thy mouth, And thou choosest the tongue of the crafty. 6 Thine own mouth condemneth thee, and not I; Yea, thine own lips testify against thee.
• Job 32:1-2 : 1 So these three men ceased to answer Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes. 2 Then was kindled the wrath of Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Ram: against Job was his wrath kindled, because he justified himself rather than God.
• Job 33:8-9 : 8 Surely thou hast spoken in my hearing, And I have heard the voice of [thy] words, [saying], 9 I am clean, without transgression; I am innocent, neither is there iniquity in me: 10 Behold, he findeth occasions against me, He counteth me for his enemy: 11 He putteth my feet in the stocks, He marketh all my paths. 12 Behold, I will answer thee, in this thou art not just; For God is greater than man. 13 Why dost thou strive against him, For that he giveth not account of any of his matters?
• Job 1:1 : 1 There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and turned away from evil.
• Job 4:17 : 17 Shall mortal man be more just than God? Shall a man be more pure than his Maker?
• Job 9:2 : 2 Of a truth I know that it is so: But how can man be just with God?
• Job 35:16 : 16 Therefore doth Job open his mouth in vanity; He multiplieth words without knowledge.
• Ps 130:3 : 3 If thou, Jehovah, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?
• Ps 143:2 : 2 And enter not into judgment with thy servant; For in thy sight no man living is righteous.
• Prov 10:19 : 19 In the multitude of words there wanteth not transgression; But he that refraineth his lips doeth wisely.
• Prov 17:20 : 20 He that hath a wayward heart findeth no good; And he that hath a perverse tongue falleth into mischief.
• Isa 6:5 : 5 Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, Jehovah of hosts.
• Matt 12:36-37 : 36 And I say unto you, that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. 37 For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned.
• Luke 10:29 : 29 But he, desiring to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbor?
• Luke 16:15 : 15 And he said unto them, Ye are they that justify yourselves in the sight of men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God.
• Phil 3:12-15 : 12 Not that I have already obtained, or am already made perfect: but I press on, if so be that I may lay hold on that for which also I was laid hold on by Christ Jesus. 13 Brethren, I count not myself yet to have laid hold: but one thing [I do], forgetting the things which are behind, and stretching forward to the things which are before, 14 I press on toward the goal unto the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. 15 Let us therefore, as many as are perfect, be thus minded: and if in anything ye are otherwise minded, this also shall God reveal {G2532} unto you:
• 1 Tim 6:5 : 5 wranglings of men corrupted in mind and bereft of the truth, supposing that godliness is a way of gain.
• Jas 3:2 : 2 For in many things we all stumble. If any stumbleth not in word, the same is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body also.