I would set my cause in order before him, and fill my mouth with arguments.
Parallel Translations
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I would set my cause in order before him, and fill my mouth with arguments.
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I would order my cause before him, and fill my mouth with arguments.
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I would order my cause before Him, and fill my mouth with arguments.
Cross-references (11)
Passages linked to Job 23:4 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Job 13:18 See now, I have set my cause in order. I know that I am righteous.
- Daniel 9:18-19 My God, turn your ear, and hear. Open your eyes, and see our desolations, and the city which is called by your name; for we do not present our petitions before you for our righteousness, but for your great mercies’ sake. Lord, hear. Lord, forgive. Lord, listen and do. Don’t defer, for your own sake, my God, because your city and your people are called by your name.”
- Genesis 18:25-32 May it be far from you to do things like that, to kill the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be like the wicked. May that be far from you. Shouldn’t the Judge of all the earth do right?” Yahweh said, “If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare the whole place for their sake.” Abraham answered, “See now, I have taken it on myself to speak to the Lord, although I am dust and ashes. What if there will lack five of the fifty righteous? Will you destroy all the city for lack of five?” He said, “I will not destroy it if I find forty-five there.” He spoke to him yet again, and said, “What if there are forty found there?” He said, “I will not do it for the forty’s sake.” He said, “Oh don’t let the Lord be angry, and I will speak. What if there are thirty found there?” He said, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.” He said, “See now, I have taken it on myself to speak to the Lord. What if there are twenty found there?” He said, “I will not destroy it for the twenty’s sake.” He said, “Oh don’t let the Lord be angry, and I will speak just once more. What if ten are found there?” He said, “I will not destroy it for the ten’s sake.”
- Genesis 32:12 You said, ‘I will surely do you good, and make your offspring as the sand of the sea, which can’t be counted because there are so many.’ ”
- Exodus 32:12-13 Why should the Egyptians talk, saying, ‘He brought them out for evil, to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the surface of the earth?’ Turn from your fierce wrath, and turn away from this evil against your people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your offspring as the stars of the sky, and all this land that I have spoken of I will give to your offspring, and they shall inherit it forever.’ ”
- Numbers 14:13-19 Moses said to Yahweh, “Then the Egyptians will hear it; for you brought up this people in your might from among them. They will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that you Yahweh are among this people; for you Yahweh are seen face to face, and your cloud stands over them, and you go before them, in a pillar of cloud by day, and in a pillar of fire by night. Now if you killed this people as one man, then the nations which have heard the fame of you will speak, saying, ‘Because Yahweh was not able to bring this people into the land which he swore to them, therefore he has slain them in the wilderness.’ Now please let the power of the Lord be great, according as you have spoken, saying, ‘Yahweh is slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, forgiving iniquity and disobedience; and he will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and on the fourth generation.’ Please pardon the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of your loving kindness, and just as you have forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.”
- Joshua 7:8-9 Oh, Lord, what shall I say, after Israel has turned their backs before their enemies? For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear of it, and will surround us, and cut off our name from the earth. What will you do for your great name?”
- Job 37:19 Teach us what we will tell him, for we can’t make our case by reason of darkness.
- Psalms 25:11 For your name’s sake, Yahweh, pardon my iniquity, for it is great.
- Psalms 43:1 Vindicate me, God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation. Oh, deliver me from deceitful and wicked men.
- Isaiah 43:26 Put me in remembrance. Let us plead together. Declare your case, that you may be justified.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (8 sources)
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Job 23:4 I would order [my] cause before him,…
Job 23:4 I would order [my] cause before him, and fill my mouth with arguments.
Ver. 4. I would order my cause before him] I would not stick to approach to his tribunal, there to plead my cause (not against him, as being the supreme Judge, and not either plaintiff or defendant, but) against your false and wrongful accusations, which undoubtedly I would disprove and confute by many forcible and strong arguments (Beza).
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And fill my mouth with arguments] Heb. Redargutions (ελεγχος,) increpations, reprehensions. A good orator will first rightly lay down his cause, state the question, as we call it. 2. Confirm it with reasons. 3. Observe what is said to the contrary, and confute it. Job would do all this if he might have audience; but if to God all this, Job was much mistaken. And so at another time, when in a better mind, he could say, "Whom, though I were righteous, yet would I not answer, but I would make supplication to my judge. If I justify myself, mine own mouth shall condemn me," &c., Job 9:15; Job 9:20.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain I would orderly declare the things which concern and…
I would orderly declare the things which concern and prove the right of my cause; not only debating the controversy between my friends and me, concerning my sincerity or hypocrisy before God, as a witness or judge; but also pleading with God as a party, and modestly inquiring whether he doth not deal more rigorously with me than I might reasonably expect, wherein I desire no other judge but himself.
Fill my mouth with arguments, to prove my innocency and sincerity towards God, and consequently that am severely used.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain I would know the words which he would answer…
I would know the words which he would answer me,.... Being a God hearing and answering prayer, who always hears, and sooner or later answers the petitions of his people in his own way; and which when he does, they know, take notice, and observe it: or then he should know the reason why the Lord contended with him, and what were his sins and transgressions, which were the cause of his afflictions; things he had desired to know, but as yet had no answer, see Job 10:2;
and understand what he would say unto me; what judgment he would pass upon him, what sentence he would pronounce on him, whether guilty or not, and by which judgment he was content to stand or fall; as for men's judgment, the judgment of his friends, or to be judged by them, he required it not, as he did not understand upon what ground they went, or that it was a good one; but the judgment of God he should pay a deference to, as being always according to truth, and the reason of which, when he should have a hearing before him, and a decisive sentence by him, he should clearly perceive; see Co1 4:3.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain I would order my cause before him - Compare…
I would order my cause before him - Compare the notes at Isa 43:26. That is, I would arrange my arguments, or plead my cause, as one does in a court of justice. I would suggest the considerations which would show that I am not guilty in the sense charged by my friends, and that notwithstanding my calamities, I am the real friend of God.
And fill my mouth with arguments - Probably he means that he would appeal to the evidence furnished by a life of benevolence and justice, that he was not a hypocrite or a man of distinguished wickedness, as his friends maintained.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain order--state methodically (Job 13:18; Isa 43:26).
order--state methodically (Job 13:18; Isa 43:26).
fill, &c.--I would have abundance of arguments to adduce.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 4. Order — Set in order. Job_13:18. Used also…
4. Order — Set in order. Job_13:18. Used also of the drawing up of an army. Jdg_20:22.
Second strophe — Regerminant faith leads Job to trust that God yet would look propitiously upon him, but the hope is dispelled by the counter thought that God hides himself from all human search. Job_23:6-9.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain I would order my cause before him. Job has…
I would order my cause before him. Job has put away the feelings of shame and diffidence, which were predominant with him when he said, "How should man be just with God? If he will contend with him, he cannot answer him one of a thousand"; (Job_9:2, Job_9:3) and again, "How much less shall I answer him, and cheese out my words to reason with him? Whom, though I were righteous, yet would I not answer; but I would make my supplication to my Judge". (Job_9:14, Job_9:15) He now wishes to contend and argue and reason. This is quite in accordance with our experience. Many am the moods of man various and conflicting his desires! His mind never continues long in one stay. And fill my mouth with arguments. (comp. Psa_38:14, where our translators render the same word by "reproofs," but where "arguments" or "pleadings" would be more appropriate) The LXX has there elegmoi , and in the present passage elegcoi . The word is forensic.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 23:4 present my arguments: Job wanted to make his…
23:4 present my arguments: Job wanted to make his case with God (13:3, 18, 22; 16:21; 31:35); Abraham pled directly with God regarding Sodom (Gen 18:25-32), and Moses did the same for Israel (Exod 32:12-13; Num 14:13-19).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.