Bible Strands
Job 9:31
then You would plunge me into the pit, and even my own clothes would despise me.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Job speaks directly to God in a lament over his inability to justify himself, positioned immediately after his description of futile ritual cleansing in Job 9:30 and before his admission that God cannot be summoned to court in Job 9:32.
The words — תִטְבֹּלֵנִי (titbeLe/ni) literally means "you will plunge me," and שְׂלָמוֹתַי (salmoTai) translates directly to "my own clothes."
The thread — The pattern of self-condemnation and worthless garments recurs in Job 9:20, Job 15:6, and Isaiah 59:6.
Why it lands — The text states that divine judgment will override human attempts at purity, rendering personal defenses as sources of shame. It requires the reader to acknowledge the impossibility of self-justification before an unapproachable sovereign.
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
Yet shalt thou plunge me in the ditch, and mine own clothes shall abhor me.
Cross-references
- Job 9:20 Even if I were righteous, my mouth would condemn me; if I were blameless, it would declare me guilty.
- Job 15:6 Your own mouth, not mine, condemns you; your own lips testify against you.
- Isaiah 59:6 Their cobwebs cannot be made into clothing, and they cannot cover themselves with their works. Their deeds are sinful deeds, and acts of violence are in their hands.
- Isaiah 64:6 Each of us has become like something unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all wither like a leaf, and our iniquities carry us away like the wind.
- Philippians 3:8 More than that, I count all things as loss compared to the surpassing excellence of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ