Job 16:17

NET Bible® (New English Translation)

although there is no violence in my hands and my prayer is pure.

📖 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 But if you will look to God, and make your supplication to the Almighty, 6 if you become pure and upright, even now he will rouse himself for you, and will restore your righteous home.
• Job 11:14 : 14 if iniquity is in your hand– put it far away, and do not let evil reside in your tents.
• Job 15:20 : 20 All his days the wicked man suffers torment, throughout the number of the years that are stored up for the tyrant.
• Job 15:34 : 34 For the company of the godless is barren, and fire consumes the tents of those who accept bribes.
• Job 21:27-28 : 27 Futile Words, Deceptive Answers“Yes, I know what you are thinking, the schemes by which you would wrong me. 28 For you say,‘Where now is the nobleman’s house, and where are the tents in which the wicked lived?’
• Job 22:5-9 : 5 Is not your wickedness great and is there no end to your iniquity? 6 “For you took pledges from your brothers for no reason, and you stripped the clothing from the naked. 7 You gave the weary no water to drink and from the hungry you withheld food. 8 Although you were a powerful man, owning land, an honored man living on it, 9 you sent widows away empty-handed, and the arms of the orphans you crushed.
• Job 27:6-7 : 6 I will maintain my righteousness and never let it go; my conscience will not reproach me for as long as I live. 7 The Condition of the Wicked“May my enemy be like the wicked, my adversary like the unrighteous.
• Job 29:12-17 : 12 for I rescued the poor who cried out for help, and the orphan who had no one to assist him; 13 the blessing of the dying man descended on me, and I made the widow’s heart rejoice; 14 I put on righteousness and it clothed me, my just dealing was like a robe and a turban; 15 I was eyes for the blind and feet for the lame; 16 I was a father to the needy, and I investigated the case of the person I did not know; 17 I broke the fangs of the wicked, and made him drop his prey from his teeth.
• Job 31:1-9 : 1 Job Vindicates Himself“I made a covenant with my eyes; how then could I entertain thoughts against a virgin? 2 What then would be one’s lot from God above, one’s heritage from the Almighty on high? 3 Is it not misfortune for the unjust, and disaster for those who work iniquity? 4 Does he not see my ways and count all my steps? 5 If I have walked in falsehood, and if my foot has hastened to deceit– 6 let him weigh me with honest scales; then God will discover my integrity. 7 If my footsteps have strayed from the way, if my heart has gone after my eyes, or if anything has defiled my hands, 8 then let me sow and let another eat, and let my crops be uprooted. 9 If my heart has been enticed by a woman, and I have lain in wait at my neighbor’s door, 10 then let my wife turn the millstone for another man, and may other men commit adultery with her. 11 For I would have committed a shameful act, an iniquity to be judged. 12 For it is a fire that devours even to Destruction, and it would uproot all my harvest. 13 “If I have disregarded the right of my male servants or my female servants when they disputed with me, 14 then what will I do when God confronts me in judgment; when he intervenes, how will I respond to him? 15 Did not the one who made me in the womb make them? Did not the same one form us in the womb? 16 If I have refused to give the poor what they desired, or caused the eyes of the widow to fail, 17 If I ate my morsel of bread myself, and did not share any of it with orphans– 18 but from my youth I raised the orphan like a father, and from my mother’s womb I guided the widow! 19 If I have seen anyone about to perish for lack of clothing, or a poor man without a coat, 20 whose heart did not bless me as he warmed himself with the fleece of my sheep, 21 if I have raised my hand to vote against the orphan, when I saw my support in the court, 22 then let my arm fall from the shoulder, let my arm be broken off at the socket. 23 For the calamity from God was a terror to me, and by reason of his majesty I was powerless. 24 “If I have put my confidence in gold or said to pure gold,‘You are my security!’ 25 if I have rejoiced because of the extent of my wealth, or because of the great wealth my hand had gained, 26 if I looked at the sun when it was shining, and the moon advancing as a precious thing, 27 so that my heart was secretly enticed, and my hand threw them a kiss from my mouth, 28 then this also would be iniquity to be judged, for I would have been false to God above. 29 If I have rejoiced over the misfortune of my enemy or exulted because calamity found him– 30 I have not even permitted my mouth to sin by asking for his life through a curse– 31 if the members of my household have never said,‘If only there were someone who has not been satisfied from Job’s meat!’– 32 But no stranger had to spend the night outside, for I opened my doors to the traveler– 33 if I have covered my transgressions as men do, by hiding iniquity in my heart, 34 because I was terrified of the great multitude, and the contempt of families terrified me, so that I remained silent and would not go outdoors– 35 Job’s Appeal“If only I had someone to hear me! Here is my signature– let the Almighty answer me! If only I had an indictment that my accuser had written. 36 Surely I would wear it proudly on my shoulder, I would bind it on me like a crown; 37 I would give him an accounting of my steps; like a prince I would approach him. 38 Job’s Final Solemn Oath“If my land cried out against me and all its furrows wept together, 39 if I have eaten its produce without paying, or caused the death of its owners, 40 then let thorns sprout up in place of wheat, and in place of barley, weeds!” The words of Job are ended.
• Ps 7:3-5 : 3 O LORD my God, if I have done what they say, or am guilty of unjust actions, 4 or have wronged my ally, or helped his lawless enemy, 5 may an enemy relentlessly chase me and catch me; may he trample me to death and leave me lying dishonored in the dust.(Selah)
• Ps 44:17-21 : 17 All this has happened to us, even though we have not rejected you or violated your covenant with us. 18 We have not been unfaithful, nor have we disobeyed your commands. 19 Yet you have battered us, leaving us a heap of ruins overrun by wild dogs; you have covered us with darkness. 20 If we had rejected our God, and spread out our hands in prayer to another god, 21 would not God discover it, for he knows one’s thoughts?
• Ps 66:18-19 : 18 If I had harbored sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened. 19 However, God heard; he listened to my prayer.
• Prov 15:8 : 8 The LORD abhors the sacrifice of the wicked, but the prayer of the upright pleases him.
• Isa 59:6 : 6 Their webs cannot be used for clothing; they cannot cover themselves with what they make. Their deeds are sinful; they commit violent crimes.
• Jonah 3:8 : 8 Every person and animal must put on sackcloth and must cry earnestly to God, and everyone must turn from their evil way of living and from the violence that they do.
• 1 Tim 2:8 : 8 So I want the men in every place to pray, lifting up holy hands without anger or dispute.