Bible Strands
Job 17:9
Yet a righteous one holds to his way, and the one with clean hands grows stronger.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Job addresses his three friends in the midst of his physical deterioration and social abandonment, asserting that moral integrity endures despite his circumstances.
The words — יֹאחֵז (yo.Chez) translates to "he may hold," and אֹמֶץ ('O.metz) translates to "strength," describing the active grip of the righteous on their path and the subsequent increase in their power.
The thread — The concept of progressive illumination and fortification runs through Proverbs 4:18, while the linkage of clean hands to divine intervention appears in Job 22:30.
Why it lands — The passage requires a reader to acknowledge that ethical consistency does not dissolve under pressure but actively preserves and augments personal resilience.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
The righteous also shall hold on his way, and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger.
Cross-references
- Proverbs 4:18 The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining brighter and brighter until midday.
- Isaiah 1:15 When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide My eyes from you; even though you multiply your prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are covered with blood.
- Job 22:30 He will deliver even one who is not innocent, rescuing him through the cleanness of your hands.”
- Psalms 84:7 They go from strength to strength, until each appears before God in Zion.
- Proverbs 14:16 A wise man fears and turns from evil, but a fool is careless and reckless.
- 2 Corinthians 12:9 But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest on me.
- Genesis 20:5 Didn’t Abraham tell me, ‘She is my sister’? And she herself said, ‘He is my brother.’ I have done this in the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands.”
- Isaiah 40:29 He gives power to the faint and increases the strength of the weak.
- Psalms 26:6 I wash my hands in innocence that I may go about Your altar, O LORD,
- Psalms 73:13 Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure; in innocence I have washed my hands.