Job 16:17

Bible in Basic English (1941)

Though my hands have done no violent acts, and my prayer is clean.

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

עַ֭ל לֹא־חָמָ֣ס בְּכַפָּ֑י וּֽתְפִלָּתִ֥י זַכָּֽה׃

Transliteration

ʿal lōʾ-ḥāmās bə-kappāy û-təpillātî zakkāh

Grammar Details

• *ʿal*: preposition - on account of
• *lōʾ-ḥāmās*: negative particle + noun masculine singular - no violence
• *bə-kappāy*: preposition + noun feminine dual + 1st singular suffix - in my hands
• *û-təpillātî*: conjunction + noun feminine singular + 1st singular suffix - and my prayer
• *zakkāh*: adjective feminine singular - pure

Word Meanings

• *ḥāmās*: violence, wrong, cruelty
• *kappāy*: hands, palms
• *təpillātî*: prayer, intercession
• *zakkāh*: pure, clean

Referenced Verses

• Job 8:5-6 : 5 If you will make search for God with care, and put your request before the Ruler of all; 6 If you are clean and upright; then he will certainly be moved to take up your cause, and will make clear your righteousness by building up your house again.
• Job 11:14 : 14 If you put far away the evil of your hands, and let no wrongdoing have a place in your tent;
• Job 15:20 : 20 The evil man is in pain all his days, and the number of the years stored up for the cruel is small.
• Job 15:34 : 34 For the band of the evil-doers gives no fruit, and the tents of those who give wrong decisions for reward are burned with fire.
• Job 21:27-28 : 27 See, I am conscious of your thoughts, and of your violent purposes against me; 28 For you say, Where is the house of the ruler, and where is the tent of the evil-doer?
• Job 22:5-9 : 5 Is not your evil-doing great? and there is no end to your sins. 6 For you have taken your brother's goods when he was not in your debt, and have taken away the clothing of those who have need of it. 7 You do not give water to the tired traveller, and from him who has no food you keep back bread. 8 For it was the man with power who had the land, and the man with an honoured name who was living in it. 9 You have sent widows away without hearing their cause, and you have taken away the support of the child who has no father.
• Job 27:6-7 : 6 I will keep it safe, and will not let it go: my heart has nothing to say against any part of my life. 7 Let my hater be like the evil man, and let him who comes against me be as the sinner.
• Job 29:12-17 : 12 For I was a saviour to the poor when he was crying for help, to the child with no father, and to him who had no supporter. 13 The blessing of him who was near to destruction came on me, and I put a song of joy into the widow's heart. 14 I put on righteousness as my clothing, and was full of it; right decisions were to me a robe and a head-dress. 15 I was eyes to the blind, and feet to him who had no power of walking. 16 I was a father to the poor, searching out the cause of him who was strange to me. 17 By me the great teeth of the evil-doer were broken, and I made him give up what he had violently taken away.
• Job 31:1-9 : 1 I made an agreement with my eyes; how then might my eyes be looking on a virgin? 2 For what is God's reward from on high, or the heritage given by the Ruler of all from heaven? 3 Is it not trouble for the sinner, and destruction for the evil-doers? 4 Does he not see my ways, and are not my steps all numbered? 5 If I have gone in false ways, or my foot has been quick in working deceit; 6 (Let me be measured in upright scales, and let God see my righteousness:) 7 If my steps have been turned out of the way, or if my heart went after my eyes, or if the property of another is in my hands; 8 Let me put seed in the earth for another to have the fruit of it, and let my produce be uprooted. 9 If my heart went after another man's wife, or if I was waiting secretly at my neighbour's door; 10 Then let my wife give pleasure to another man and let others make use of her body. 11 For that would be a crime; it would be an act for which punishment would be measured out by the judges: 12 It would be a fire burning even to destruction, and taking away all my produce. 13 If I did wrong in the cause of my man-servant, or my woman-servant, when they went to law with me; 14 What then will I do when God comes as my judge? and what answer may I give to his questions? 15 Did not God make him as well as me? did he not give us life in our mothers' bodies? 16 If I kept back the desire of the poor; if the widow's eye was looking for help to no purpose; 17 If I kept my food for myself, and did not give some of it to the child with no father; 18 (For I was cared for by God as by a father from my earliest days; he was my guide from the body of my mother;) 19 If I saw one near to death for need of clothing, and that the poor had nothing covering him; 20 If his back did not give me a blessing, and the wool of my sheep did not make him warm; 21 If my hand had been lifted up against him who had done no wrong, when I saw that I was supported by the judges; 22 May my arm be pulled from my body, and be broken from its base. 23 For the fear of God kept me back, and because of his power I might not do such things. 24 If I made gold my hope, or if I ever said to the best gold, I have put my faith in you; 25 If I was glad because my wealth was great, and because my hand had got together a great store; 26 If, when I saw the sun shining, and the moon moving on its bright way, 27 A secret feeling of worship came into my heart, and my hand gave kisses from my mouth; 28 That would have been another sin to be rewarded with punishment by the judges; for I would have been false to God on high. 29 If I was glad at the trouble of my hater, and gave cries of joy when evil overtook him; 30 (For I did not let my mouth give way to sin, in putting a curse on his life;) 31 If the men of my tent did not say, Who has not had full measure of his meat? 32 The traveller did not take his night's rest in the street, and my doors were open to anyone on a journey; 33 If I kept my evil doings covered, and my sin in the secret of my breast, 34 For fear of the great body of people, or for fear that families might make sport of me, so that I kept quiet, and did not go out of my door; 35 If only God would give ear to me, and the Ruler of all would give me an answer! or if what he has against me had been put in writing! 36 Truly I would take up the book in my hands; it would be to me as a crown; 37 I would make clear the number of my steps, I would put it before him like a prince! The words of Job are ended. 38 If my land has made an outcry against me, or the ploughed earth has been in sorrow; 39 If I have taken its produce without payment, causing the death of its owners; 40 Then in place of grain let thorns come up, and in place of barley evil-smelling plants.
• Ps 7:3-5 : 3 O Lord my God, if I have done this; if my hands have done any wrong; 4 If I have given back evil to him who did evil to me, or have taken anything from him who was against me without cause; 5 Let my hater go after my soul and take it; let my life be crushed to the earth, and my honour into the dust. (Selah.)
• Ps 44:17-21 : 17 All this has come on us, but still we have kept you in our memory; and we have not been false to your word. 18 Our hearts have not gone back, and our steps have not been turned out of your way; 19 Though you have let us be crushed in the place of jackals, though we are covered with darkest shade. 20 If the name of our God has gone out of our minds, or if our hands have been stretched out to a strange god, 21 Will not God make search for it? for he sees the secrets of the heart.
• Ps 66:18-19 : 18 I said in my heart, The Lord will not give ear to me: 19 But truly God's ear has been open; he has give attention to the voice of my prayer.
• Prov 15:8 : 8 The offering of the evil-doer is disgusting to the Lord, but the prayer of the upright man is his delight.
• Isa 59:6 : 6 Their twisted threads will not make clothing, and their works will give them nothing for covering themselves: their works are works of sin, and violent acts are in their hands.
• Jonah 3:8 : 8 And let man and beast be covered with haircloth, and let them make strong prayers to God: and let everyone be turned from his evil way and the violent acts of their hands.
• 1 Tim 2:8 : 8 It is my desire, then, that in every place men may give themselves to prayer, lifting up holy hands, without wrath or argument.