Job 25 · Verse 4

Job 25:4

How then can man be justified with God? or how can he be clean that is born of a woman?
Job 25:4, King James Version

Job 25:4 in other translations

BSBHow then can a man be just before God? How can one born of woman be pure?
WEBHow then can man be just with God? Or how can he who is born of a woman be clean?
ASVHow then can man be just with God? Or how can he be clean that is born of a woman?
YLTAnd what? is man righteous with God? And what? is he pure--born of a woman?
DARBYAnd how should man be just with God? Or how should he be clean that is born of a woman?
BBEHow then is it possible for man to be upright before God? or how may he be clean who is a son of woman?
WebsterHow then can man be justified with God? or how can he be clean that is born of a woman?

What does Job 25:4 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
4. (Job 4:17, 18; 14:4; 15:14).

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 4 How then can man be justified? - Or, ונה umah, With what, shall a man be justified with God? Though this is no conclusion from Bildad's premises, yet the question is of the highest importance to man. Neither Bildad nor any of his fellows could answer it; the doctrine of redemption through the blood of the cross was then known only through types and shadows. We who live in the Gospel dispensation, can readily answer the question, With what shall miserable man (אנוש enosh) be justified with God? - Ans. By bringing forward, by faith, to the throne of the Divine justice, the sacrificial offering of the Lord Jesus Christ; and confiding absolutely in it, as being a full, sufficient, and complete atonement and sacrifice for his sins, and for the salvation of a lost world. How, or with what (ומה umah) shall he be clean that is born of a woman? - Ans. By receiving that grace or heavenly influence communicated by the power and energy of the eternal Spirit applying to the heart the efficacy of that blood which cleanses from all unrighteousness. This, and this only, is the way in which a sinner, when truly penitent, can be justified before God: and in which a believer, convinced of indwelling sin, can be sanctified and cleansed from all unrighteousness. This is the only means of justification and sanctification, without which there can be no glorification. And these two great works, which constitute the whole of salvation, have been procured for a lost world by the incarnation, passion, death, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, who was delivered for our offenses, and rose again for our justification; to whom be glory and dominion now and for evermore, Amen!

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Job 25:4 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.

וּמַה\־u.mah-and what?H4100
יִּצְדַּ֣קyitz.Dakwill he be righteousH6663
אֱנ֣וֹשׁ'e.No.osha personH582
עִם\־'im-withH5973
אֵ֑ל'ElGodH410
וּמַה\־u.mah-and what?H4100
יִּ֝זְכֶּ֗הyiz.Kehwill he be pureH2135
יְל֣וּדye.Lud[one] born ofH3205
אִשָּֽׁה\׃'i.Shaha womanH802

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

Cross references for Job 25:4

  • Romans 5:1

    Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:

  • Psalms 130:3

    If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?

  • Job 9:2

    I know it is so of a truth: but how should man be just with God?

  • Job 4:17-19

    Shall mortal man be more just than God? shall a man be more pure than his maker? Behold, he put no trust in his servants; and his angels he charged with folly: How much less in them that dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, which are crushed before the moth?

  • Job 15:14-16

    What is man, that he should be clean? and he which is born of a woman, that he should be righteous? Behold, he putteth no trust in his saints; yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight. How much more abominable and filthy is man, which drinketh iniquity like water?

  • Psalms 143:2

    And enter not into judgment with thy servant: for in thy sight shall no man living be justified.

  • Revelation 1:5

    And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,

  • Psalms 51:5

    Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.

  • 1 John 1:9

    If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

  • Zechariah 13:1

    In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness.

  • Job 14:3-4

    And dost thou open thine eyes upon such an one, and bringest me into judgment with thee? Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? not one.

  • Romans 3:19-20

    Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.

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

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
How then.
4:17-19; 9:2; 15:14-16; Ps 130:3; 143:2; Ro 3:19,20; 5:1
how can.
14:3,4; Ps 51:5; Zec 13:1; Eph 2:3; 1Co 6:11; 1Jo 1:9; Re 1:5

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

Context

  • Job 25:3

    Is there any number of his armies? and upon whom doth not his light arise?

  • Job 25:4

    How then can man be justified with God? or how can he be clean that is born of a woman?

  • Job 25:5

    Behold even to the moon, and it shineth not; yea, the stars are not pure in his sight.

Read all of Job 25

Job 25:4 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909
¿Cómo pues se justificará el hombre con Dios? ¿y cómo será limpio el que nace de mujer?
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885
Et comment l’homme sera-t-il juste devant ✶Dieu, et comment serait pur celui qui est né de femme?
German
Elberfelder 1871
Und wie könnte ein Mensch gerecht sein vor Gott, und wie könnte rein sein ein vom Weibe Geborener?
Latin
Clementine Vulgate
Numquid justificari potest homo comparatus Deo? aut apparere mundus natus de muliere?