Job 4 · Verse 7

Job 4:7

Remember, I pray thee, who ever perished, being innocent? or where were the righteous cut off?
Job 4:7, King James Version

Job 4:7 in other translations

BSBConsider now, I plead: Who, being innocent, has ever perished? Or where have the upright been destroyed?
WEB“Remember, now, who ever perished, being innocent? Or where were the upright cut off?
ASVRemember, I pray thee, who ever perished, being innocent? Or where were the upright cut off?
YLTRemember, I pray thee, Who, being innocent, hath perished? And where have the upright been cut off?
DARBYRemember, I pray thee, who that was innocent has perished? and where were the upright cut off?
BBEHave you ever seen destruction come to an upright man? or when were the god-fearing ever cut off?
WebsterRemember, I pray thee, who ever perished, being innocent? or where were the righteous cut off;

What does Job 4:7 mean?

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 7 Remember, I pray thee - Recollect, if thou canst, a single instance where God abandoned an innocent man, or suffered him to perish. Didst thou ever hear of a case in which God abandoned a righteous man to destruction? Wert thou a righteous man, and innocent of all hidden crimes, would God abandon thee thus to the malice of Satan? or let loose the plagues of affliction and adversity against thee?

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Job 4:7-11
Eliphaz argues, 1. That good men were never thus ruined. But there is one event both to the righteous and to the wicked, Ec 9:2, both in life and death; the great and certain difference is after death. Our worst mistakes are occasioned by drawing wrong views from undeniable truths. 2. That wicked men were often thus ruined: for the proof of this, Eliphaz vouches his own observation. We may see the same every day.

Matthew Henry, 1706 · public domain

Job 4:7 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.

זְכָר\־ze.khor-rememberH2142
נָ֗אNa'pleaseH4994
מִ֤יmiwho?H4310
ה֣וּאhu'thatH1931
נָקִ֣יna.KiinnocentH5355
אָבָ֑ד'a.Vaddid he perishH6
וְ֝אֵיפֹ֗הve.'ei.Fohand where?H375
יְשָׁרִ֥יםye.sha.Rimupright [people]H3477
נִכְחָֽדוּ\׃ni.Kha.duwere they destroyedH3582

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

Cross references for Job 4:7

  • Psalms 37:25

    I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.

  • Job 36:7

    He withdraweth not his eyes from the righteous: but with kings are they on the throne; yea, he doth establish them for ever, and they are exalted.

  • 2 Peter 2:9

    The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:

  • Acts 28:4

    And when the barbarians saw the venomous beast hang on his hand, they said among themselves, No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he hath escaped the sea, yet vengeance suffereth not to live.

  • Job 8:20

    Behold, God will not cast away a perfect man, neither will he help the evil doers:

  • Job 9:22-23

    This is one thing, therefore I said it, He destroyeth the perfect and the wicked. If the scourge slay suddenly, he will laugh at the trial of the innocent.

  • Ecclesiastes 7:15

    All things have I seen in the days of my vanity: there is a just man that perisheth in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man that prolongeth his life in his wickedness.

  • Ecclesiastes 9:1-2

    For all this I considered in my heart even to declare all this, that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God: no man knoweth either love or hatred by all that is before them. All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth not: as is the good, so is the sinner; and he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath.

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

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
who ever.
9:22,23; Ps 37:25; Ec 7:15; 9:1,2; Ac 28:4; 2Pe 2:9

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

Context

  • Job 4:6

    Is not this thy fear, thy confidence, thy hope, and the uprightness of thy ways?

  • Job 4:7

    Remember, I pray thee, who ever perished, being innocent? or where were the righteous cut off?

  • Job 4:8

    Even as I have seen, they that plow iniquity, and sow wickedness, reap the same.

Read all of Job 4

Job 4:7 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Recapacita ahora, ¿quién que fuera inocente se perdiera? y ¿en dónde los rectos fueron cortados?
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Souviens-toi, je te prie, qui a péri étant innocent? et où les hommes droits ont-ils été détruits?
German
Elberfelder 1871		Gedenke doch: Wer ist als Unschuldiger umgekommen, und wo sind Rechtschaffene vertilgt worden?
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		Recordare, obsecro te, quis umquam innocens periit? aut quando recti deleti sunt?