Job 16 · Verse 17

Job 16:17

Not for any injustice in mine hands: also my prayer is pure.
Job 16:17, King James Version

Job 16:17 in other translations

BSByet my hands are free of violence and my prayer is pure.
WEBalthough there is no violence in my hands, and my prayer is pure.
ASVAlthough there is no violence in my hands, And my prayer is pure.
YLTNot for violence in my hands, And my prayer is pure.
DARBYAlthough there is no violence in my hands, and my prayer is pure.
BBEThough my hands have done no violent acts, and my prayer is clean.
WebsterNot for any injustice in my hands: also my prayer is pure.

What does Job 16:17 mean?

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 17 Not for any injustice - I must assert, even with my last breath, that the charges of my friends against me are groundless. I am afflicted unto death, but not on account of my iniquities. Also my prayer is pure - I am no hypocrite, God knoweth.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Job 16:17-22
Job's condition was very deplorable; but he had the testimony of his conscience for him, that he never allowed himself in any gross sin. No one was ever more ready to acknowledge sins of infirmity. Eliphaz had charged him with hypocrisy in religion, but he specifies prayer, the great act of religion, and professes that in this he was pure, though not from all infirmity. He had a God to go to, who he doubted not took full notice of all his sorrows. Those who pour out tears before God, though they cannot plead for themselves, by reason of their defects, have a Friend to plead for them, even the Son of man, and on him we must ground all our hopes of acceptance with God. To die, is to go the way whence we shall not return. We must all of us, very certainly, and very shortly, go this journey. Should not then the Saviour be precious to our souls? And ought we not to be ready to obey and to suffer for his sake? If our consciences are sprinkled with his atoning blood, and testify that we are not living in sin or hypocrisy, when we go the way whence we shall not return, it will be a release from prison, and an entrance into everlasting happiness.

Matthew Henry, 1706 · public domain

Job 16:17 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

עַ֭ל'alonH5921
לֹא\־lo'-notH3808
חָמָ֣סcha.MasviolenceH2555
בְּכַפָּ֑יbe.kha.Pai[is] in hands myH3709
וּֽתְפִלָּתִ֥יu.te.fi.la.Tiand prayer myH8605
זַכָּֽה\׃za.Kah[is] pureH2134

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Job 16:17

  • Proverbs 15:8

    The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord: but the prayer of the upright is his delight.

  • Psalms 66:18-19

    If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me: But verily God hath heard me; he hath attended to the voice of my prayer.

  • Job 27:6-7

    My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go: my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live. Let mine enemy be as the wicked, and he that riseth up against me as the unrighteous.

  • Job 8:5-6

    If thou wouldest seek unto God betimes, and make thy supplication to the Almighty; If thou wert pure and upright; surely now he would awake for thee, and make the habitation of thy righteousness prosperous.

  • Psalms 7:3-5

    O Lord my God, if I have done this; if there be iniquity in my hands; If I have rewarded evil unto him that was at peace with me; (yea, I have delivered him that without cause is mine enemy:) Let the enemy persecute my soul, and take it; yea, let him tread down my life upon the earth, and lay mine honour in the dust. Selah.

  • Job 15:34

    For the congregation of hypocrites shall be desolate, and fire shall consume the tabernacles of bribery.

  • Job 15:20

    The wicked man travaileth with pain all his days, and the number of years is hidden to the oppressor.

  • Jonah 3:8

    But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands.

  • Job 31:1-40

    I made a covenant with mine eyes; why then should I think upon a maid? For what portion of God is there from above? and what inheritance of the Almighty from on high? Is not destruction to the wicked? and a strange punishment to the workers of iniquity? Doth not he see my ways, and count all my steps? …

  • Job 29:12-17

    Because I delivered the poor that cried, and the fatherless, and him that had none to help him. The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me: and I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy. I put on righteousness, and it clothed me: my judgment was as a robe and a diadem. I was eyes to the blind, and feet was I to the lame. …

  • Psalms 44:17-21

    All this is come upon us; yet have we not forgotten thee, neither have we dealt falsely in thy covenant. Our heart is not turned back, neither have our steps declined from thy way; Though thou hast sore broken us in the place of dragons, and covered us with the shadow of death. If we have forgotten the name of our God, or stretched out our hands to a strange god; …

  • Job 21:27-28

    Behold, I know your thoughts, and the devices which ye wrongfully imagine against me. For ye say, Where is the house of the prince? and where are the dwelling places of the wicked?

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Not for.
11:14; 15:20,34; 21:27,28; 22:5-9; 27:6,7; 29:12-17; 31:1-40
Ps 7:3-5; 44:17-21
my prayer.
8:5,6; Ps 66:18,19; Pr 15:8; 1Ti 2:8

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Job 16:16

    My face is foul with weeping, and on my eyelids is the shadow of death;

  • Job 16:17

    Not for any injustice in mine hands: also my prayer is pure.

  • Job 16:18

    O earth, cover not thou my blood, and let my cry have no place.

Read all of Job 16

Job 16:17 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		A pesar de no haber iniquidad en mis manos, y de haber sido mi oración pura.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Quoiqu’il n’y ait pas de violence dans mes mains, et que ma prière soit pure.
German
Elberfelder 1871		obwohl keine Gewalttat in meinen Händen, und mein Gebet lauter ist.
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		Facies mea intumuit a fletu, et palpebræ meæ caligaverunt.