Job 16:17

17 yet my hands have been free of violence and my prayer is pure.

Job 16:17 in Other Translations

KJV
17 Not for any injustice in mine hands: also my prayer is pure.
ESV
17 although there is no violence in my hands, and my prayer is pure.
NLT
17 Yet I have done no wrong, and my prayer is pure.
MSG
17 Even though I've never hurt a soul and my prayers are sincere! The One Who Represents Mortals Before God
CSB
17 although my hands are free from violence and my prayer is pure.

Job 16:17 Meaning and Commentary

Job 16:17

Not for [any] injustice in my hands
Came all those afflictions and calamities upon him, which occasioned so much sorrow, weeping, mourning, and humiliation; he does not say there was no sin in him, not any in his heart, nor in his life, nor any iniquity done by him, he had acknowledged these things before, ( Job 7:20 ) ( Job 9:20 Job 9:30 Job 9:31 ) ; but that there was nothing in his hands gotten in an unjust manner; he had taken away no man's property, nor injured him in the least in a private way; nor had he perverted justice as a public magistrate, by taking bribes or accepting persons, and could challenge any to prove he had, as Samuel did, ( 1 Samuel 12:3 ) ;

also my prayer [is] pure:
he prayed, which disproves the calumny of Eliphaz, ( Job 15:4 ) ; and his prayer was pure too; not that it was free from failings and infirmities, which attend the best, but from hypocrisy and deceit; it came not out of feigned lips, but was put up in sincerity and truth; it sprang from an heart purified by the grace of God, and sprinkled from an evil conscience; it was put up in the faith of Christ, and as a pure offering through him; Job lifted up pure and holy hands, and with these a pure and holy heart, and for pure and holy things; so that it was not for want of doing justice to men, nor for want of devotion towards God, that be was thus afflicted by him; compare with this what is said of his antitype, ( Isaiah 53:9 ) .

Job 16:17 In-Context

15 “I have sewed sackcloth over my skin and buried my brow in the dust.
16 My face is red with weeping, dark shadows ring my eyes;
17 yet my hands have been free of violence and my prayer is pure.
18 “Earth, do not cover my blood; may my cry never be laid to rest!
19 Even now my witness is in heaven; my advocate is on high.

Cross References 2

  • 1. Isaiah 55:7; Isaiah 59:6; Jeremiah 18:11; John 3:8
  • 2. S Job 6:28; S Job 10:7; Job 13:7; Isaiah 53:9; Zephaniah 3:13
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