The Meaning of Job 9:21 Explained

Job 9:21

KJV: Though I were perfect, yet would I not know my soul: I would despise my life.

YLT: Perfect I am! -- I know not my soul, I despise my life.

Darby: Were I perfect, yet would I not know my soul: I would despise my life.

ASV: I am perfect; I regard not myself; I despise my life.

Discover Job 9:21

CONTEXT: What is the Context of Job 9:21?

MEANING: What does Job 9:21 Mean?

WORDS: What do the individual words in Job 9:21 mean?

RELATIONS: What do the major concepts mean in Job 9:21?

KJV Reverse Interlinear

[Though] I [were] perfect,  [yet] would I not know  my soul:  I would despise  my life. 

What does Job 9:21 Mean?

Context Summary

Job 9:1-35 - "the Daysman"
Ponder the sublimity of the conceptions of God given in this magnificent passage. To God are attributed the earthquake that rocks the pillars on which the world rests, Job 9:6; the eclipse which hides the heavenly bodies, Job 9:7; the storm in which he bows the heavens and treads majestically on the waves, Job 9:8; and the creation of the constellations, Job 9:9. Who can dare to argue with or call to account so great a God as this? Job 9:10-19. Even if a man be outwardly and inwardly righteous (that is, so far as the measure of his light), yet in such a Presence the heart of the most perfect must condemn him. "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves"¦. God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all." We cannot but feel that this old-world thinker had a truer view of that conscious imperfection and sin which must be experienced by every mortal who has a right appreciation of the holiness of God, than have those who refuse to say the Lord's Prayer because it contains a petition for forgiveness!
Truly we need that Daysman! But we have Him in Jesus our Mediator, who can lay His hand on God and us, Job 9:33; 1 Timothy 2:5. [source]

Chapter Summary: Job 9

1  Job acknowledges God's justice
22  Man's innocence is not to be condemned by afflictions

What do the individual words in Job 9:21 mean?

Blameless I [am] yet not I do know myself I despise my life
תָּֽם־ אָ֭נִי לֹֽא־ אֵדַ֥ע נַפְשִׁ֗י אֶמְאַ֥ס חַיָּֽי

תָּֽם־  Blameless 
Parse: Adjective, masculine singular
Root: תָּם  
Sense: perfect, complete.
אָ֭נִי  I  [am] 
Parse: Pronoun, first person common singular
Root: אֲנִי  
Sense: I (first pers.
לֹֽא־  yet  not 
Parse: Adverb, Negative particle
Root: הֲלֹא 
Sense: not, no.
אֵדַ֥ע  I  do  know 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Imperfect, first person common singular
Root: דָּעָה 
Sense: to know.
נַפְשִׁ֗י  myself 
Parse: Noun, feminine singular construct, first person common singular
Root: נֶפֶשׁ  
Sense: soul, self, life, creature, person, appetite, mind, living being, desire, emotion, passion.
אֶמְאַ֥ס  I  despise 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Imperfect, first person common singular
Root: מָאַס 
Sense: to reject, despise, refuse.
חַיָּֽי  my  life 
Parse: Noun, masculine plural construct, first person common singular
Root: חַי 
Sense: living, alive.

What are the major concepts related to Job 9:21?

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Similar Scriptures for Job 9:21

Job 1:1 [3]
1 Corinthians 4:4 [2]
Jeremiah 17:9-10 [2]
Proverbs 28:26 [2]
Job 7:15-16 [2]
1 John 3:20 [2]
Job 7:21 [2]
Psalms 139:23-24 [2]