Bible Strands
Job 9:14
How then can I answer Him or choose my arguments against Him?
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Job addresses God directly in a monologue, positioned between his account of divine wrath in verse 13 and his admission that even righteousness yields no defense in verse 15.
The words — The Hebrew אֶבְחֲרָ֖ה דְבָרַ֣י ('ev.cha.Rah de.va.Ra/i) literally means "I will choose my words," denoting the deliberate selection of a defense.
The thread — This theme of human speechlessness before divine power recurs in Job 9:3, where contending with God yields no answers, and in 1 Kings 8:27, where the cosmos cannot contain the Creator.
Why it lands — The text states that human language cannot construct a valid case against God, demanding that the reader abandon self-justification and acknowledge divine sovereignty.
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
How much less shall I answer him, and choose out my words to reason with him?
Cross-references
- 1 Kings 8:27 But will God indeed dwell upon the earth? The heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain You, much less this temple I have built.
- Job 4:19 how much more those who dwell in houses of clay, whose foundations are in the dust, who can be crushed like a moth!
- Job 9:3 If one wished to contend with God, he could not answer Him one time out of a thousand.
- Job 11:4 You have said, ‘My doctrine is sound, and I am pure in Your sight.’
- Job 23:4 I would plead my case before Him and fill my mouth with arguments.
- Job 23:7 Then an upright man could reason with Him, and I would be delivered forever from my Judge.
- Job 25:6 how much less man, who is but a maggot, and the son of man, who is but a worm!”
- Job 33:5 Refute me if you can; prepare your case and confront me.