Job 9:29

Authorized King James Version (1611)

[If] I be wicked, why then labour I in vain?

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

אָנֹכִ֥י אֶרְשָׁ֑ע לָמָּה־זֶּ֝֗ה הֶ֣בֶל אִיגָֽע׃

Transliteration

ʾānōkî ʾeršāʿ lāmmâ-zzeh hebel ʾîgāʿ

Grammar Details

• *ʾānōkî*: 1st person singular independent pronoun - I
• *ʾeršāʿ*: qal imperfect 1st person singular - I will be condemned
• *lāmmâ-zzeh*: interrogative + demonstrative pronoun - why then
• *hebel*: masculine singular noun - in vain
• *ʾîgāʿ*: qal imperfect 1st person singular - I labor

Word Meanings

• *ʾānōkî*: I, myself
• *ʾeršāʿ*: to be condemned as guilty, be wicked
• *lāmmâ-zzeh*: why then, why this
• *hebel*: breath, vapor, vanity, emptiness
• *ʾîgāʿ*: to labor, toil, grow weary

Referenced Verses

• Job 9:22 : 22 ¶ This [is] one [thing], therefore I said [it], He destroyeth the perfect and the wicked.
• Job 10:2 : 2 I will say unto God, Do not condemn me; shew me wherefore thou contendest with me.
• Job 10:7 : 7 Thou knowest that I am not wicked; and [there is] none that can deliver out of thine hand.
• Job 10:14-17 : 14 ¶ If I sin, then thou markest me, and thou wilt not acquit me from mine iniquity. 15 If I be wicked, woe unto me; and [if] I be righteous, [yet] will I not lift up my head. [I am] full of confusion; therefore see thou mine affliction; 16 For it increaseth. Thou huntest me as a fierce lion: and again thou shewest thyself marvellous upon me. 17 Thou renewest thy witnesses against me, and increasest thine indignation upon me; changes and war [are] against me.
• Job 21:16-17 : 16 Lo, their good [is] not in their hand: the counsel of the wicked is far from me. 17 ¶ How oft is the candle of the wicked put out! and [how oft] cometh their destruction upon them! [God] distributeth sorrows in his anger.
• Job 21:27 : 27 ¶ Behold, I know your thoughts, and the devices [which] ye wrongfully imagine against me.
• Job 22:5-9 : 5 ¶ [Is] not thy wickedness great? and thine iniquities infinite? 6 For thou hast taken a pledge from thy brother for nought, and stripped the naked of their clothing. 7 Thou hast not given water to the weary to drink, and thou hast withholden bread from the hungry. 8 But [as for] the mighty man, he had the earth; and the honourable man dwelt in it. 9 Thou hast sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless have been broken. 10 Therefore snares [are] round about thee, and sudden fear troubleth thee; 11 Or darkness, [that] thou canst not see; and abundance of waters cover thee. 12 [Is] not God in the height of heaven? and behold the height of the stars, how high they are! 13 And thou sayest, How doth God know? can he judge through the dark cloud? 14 Thick clouds [are] a covering to him, that he seeth not; and he walketh in the circuit of heaven. 15 ¶ Hast thou marked the old way which wicked men have trodden? 16 Which were cut down out of time, whose foundation was overflown with a flood: 17 Which said unto God, Depart from us: and what can the Almighty do for them? 18 Yet he filled their houses with good [things]: but the counsel of the wicked is far from me. 19 The righteous see [it], and are glad: and the innocent laugh them to scorn. 20 Whereas our substance is not cut down, but the remnant of them the fire consumeth. 21 ¶ Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee. 22 Receive, I pray thee, the law from his mouth, and lay up his words in thine heart. 23 If thou return to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up, thou shalt put away iniquity far from thy tabernacles. 24 Then shalt thou lay up gold as dust, and the [gold] of Ophir as the stones of the brooks. 25 Yea, the Almighty shall be thy defence, and thou shalt have plenty of silver. 26 For then shalt thou have thy delight in the Almighty, and shalt lift up thy face unto God. 27 Thou shalt make thy prayer unto him, and he shall hear thee, and thou shalt pay thy vows. 28 Thou shalt also decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee: and the light shall shine upon thy ways. 29 When [men] are cast down, then thou shalt say, [There is] lifting up; and he shall save the humble person. 30 He shall deliver the island of the innocent: and it is delivered by the pureness of thine hands.
• Ps 37:33 : 33 The LORD will not leave him in his hand, nor condemn him when he is judged.
• Ps 73:13 : 13 Verily I have cleansed my heart [in] vain, and washed my hands in innocency.
• Jer 2:35 : 35 Yet thou sayest, Because I am innocent, surely his anger shall turn from me. Behold, I will plead with thee, because thou sayest, I have not sinned.