Job 15:14-16
New English Translation
14 What is man that he should be pure,
or one born of woman, that he should be righteous?
15 If God[a] places no trust in his holy ones,[b]
if even the heavens[c] are not pure in his eyes,
16 how much less man, who is abominable and corrupt,[d]
who drinks in evil like water![e]
Footnotes
- Job 15:15 tn Heb “he.”
- Job 15:15 tn Eliphaz here reiterates the point made in Job 4:18.
- Job 15:15 sn The question here is whether the reference is to material “heavens” (as in Exod 24:10 and Job 25:5), or to heavenly beings. The latter seems preferable in this context.
- Job 15:16 tn The two descriptions here used are “abominable,” meaning “disgusting” (a Niphal participle with the value of a Latin participle [see GKC 356-57 §116.e]), and “corrupt” (a Niphal participle which occurs only in Pss 14:3 and 53:4), always in a moral sense. On the significance of the first description, see P. Humbert, “Le substantif toʾēbā et le verbe tʾb dans l’Ancien Testament,” ZAW 72 [1960]: 217-37). On the second word, G. R. Driver suggests from Arabic, “debauched with luxury, corrupt” (“Some Hebrew Words,” JTS 29 [1927/28]: 390-96).
- Job 15:16 sn Man commits evil with the same ease and facility as he drinks in water—freely and in large quantities.
Job 15:14-16
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
14 What are mortals, that they can be clean?
Or those born of woman, that they can be righteous?(A)
15 God puts no trust even in his holy ones,
and the heavens are not clean in his sight;(B)
16 how much less one who is abominable and corrupt,
one who drinks iniquity like water!(C)
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