Job 19:4

Translation
King James Version
And be it indeed that I have erred, mine error remaineth with myself.
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KJV (with Strong's)
And be it indeed H551 that I have erred H7686, mine error H4879 remaineth H3885 with myself.
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Complete Jewish Bible
Even if it's true that I made a mistake, my error stays with me.
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Berean Standard Bible
Even if I have truly gone astray, my error concerns me alone.
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American Standard Version
And be it indeed that I have erred, Mine error remaineth with myself.
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World English Bible Messianic
If it is true that I have erred, my error remains with myself.
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Geneva Bible (1599)
And though I had in deede erred, mine errour remaineth with me.
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Young's Literal Translation
And also--truly, I have erred, With me doth my error remain.
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See also
Proverbs 9:12Job 11:3Job 11:6Ezekiel 18:42 Corinthians 5:102 Samuel 24:17Galatians 6:5
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In the KJVVerse 13,302 of 31,102

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SUMMARY

Job 19:4 is a profound and emotionally charged declaration from Job, who, amidst his unfathomable suffering and the relentless, misinformed accusations of his friends, asserts a deeply personal and almost defiant ownership over his spiritual state. It is a poignant statement where Job hypothetically concedes the possibility of an error on his part, yet firmly insists that any such failing, and its consequences, remain exclusively his own burden, thereby challenging the friends' self-appointed roles as divine arbiters of his affliction. This verse encapsulates Job's profound sense of isolation and his steadfast refusal to accept a simplistic, retributive theology that fails to account for the complexities of righteous suffering.

CONTEXT

  • Literary Context: This verse is situated within Job's third and most impassioned response to his friends' accusations, specifically after Bildad's second speech in Job 18. Bildad, like Eliphaz and Zophar, has reiterated the conventional wisdom that suffering is a direct consequence of sin, implying Job's guilt. Job's speech in Job 19 is a desperate cry for vindication and understanding, moving from a lament about his abandonment by God and man (vv. 1-12) to a powerful assertion of his innocence and a profound expression of hope in a future Redeemer (vv. 23-27). Verse 4 serves as a crucial pivot, where Job directly confronts his friends' judgmental stance, asserting his right to bear his own spiritual condition without their unwarranted intrusion.
  • Historical & Cultural Context: In the ancient Near East, a prevalent theological framework, often termed "retribution theology," posited a direct correlation between righteousness and prosperity, and wickedness and suffering. This belief system, while containing elements of truth, was often applied simplistically, leading to the conclusion that anyone experiencing severe suffering must be guilty of significant sin. Job's friends operate entirely within this framework. Furthermore, social standing and honor were paramount; public humiliation and ostracization, as Job experienced, were devastating. By declaring "mine error remaineth with myself," Job is not only challenging their theology but also asserting a personal dignity and a boundary against their public shaming and intrusive judgments, which would have been deeply offensive in that cultural milieu.
  • Key Themes: Job 19:4 contributes significantly to several overarching themes within the book. It powerfully highlights the fallibility of human judgment, particularly in discerning divine purposes, as Job's friends repeatedly misinterpret his suffering, leading God to later rebuke them in Job 42:7. The verse also underscores the nature of suffering, challenging the simplistic cause-and-effect model of retribution theology by positing that suffering is not always a direct punitive consequence of specific, unconfessed sin. Implicitly, Job asserts the theme of personal integrity and accountability, even in the face of overwhelming external pressure, as he grapples with his own conscience and God's mysterious ways, foreshadowing his ultimate vindication and deeper understanding of God's sovereignty found in Job 42:5-6.

EXPOSITION AND ANALYSIS

Key Word Analysis

  • Erred (Hebrew, shâgâh', H7686): A primitive root meaning "to stray (causatively, mislead)," usually (figuratively) "to mistake," especially (morally) "to transgress." This word denotes an unintentional error, a deviation, or an inadvertent sin, rather than a deliberate, rebellious act. Job's choice of this word is significant; he is not confessing to heinous crimes or willful rebellion against God. Instead, he is hypothetically acknowledging general human fallibility or a minor, perhaps unknown, deviation, which stands in stark contrast to the grave sins his friends accuse him of. This nuance underscores his claim of relative innocence concerning the severity of his trials.
  • Error (Hebrew, mᵉshûwgâh', H4879): Derived from an unused root meaning "to stray," this noun signifies a "mistake" or "error." It reinforces the unintentional nature of any potential wrongdoing Job might be conceding. By using this term, Job emphasizes that any fault he might possess is not one of deliberate rebellion or profound wickedness, but rather a human failing that he is prepared to acknowledge and bear personally.
  • Remaineth (Hebrew, lûwn', H3885): A primitive root meaning "to stop (usually over night)," by implication "to stay permanently," or "to abide." When Job says his error "remaineth with myself," he is asserting that any potential fault is his own to bear, to live with, and to account for, without the need for his friends' intrusive and condemnatory intervention. It conveys a strong sense of personal boundary and the deeply private nature of his spiritual struggle, emphasizing permanence and personal possession of his condition.

Verse Breakdown

  • "And be it indeed [that] I have erred": This opening clause is a hypothetical concession, not an outright admission of guilt for the kind of sin his friends are accusing him of. Job uses a rhetorical device to say, "Even if, for argument's sake, I have made a mistake or strayed unintentionally..." This sets up his powerful counter-assertion. It highlights his willingness to consider his own fallibility, but within the bounds of what he understands to be true about himself—that he is not guilty of the enormous sins that would warrant such catastrophic suffering according to his friends' theology.
  • "mine error remaineth with myself": This is the core of Job's defiant assertion. It communicates several layers of meaning:
    • Personal Accountability: Any error is his own to bear, not for others to judge or exploit. He is asserting his right to face God directly concerning his own conscience.
    • Rejection of External Judgment: He is pushing back against the friends' self-appointed role as his accusers and judges. His spiritual state is between him and God, not for public dissection and condemnation by fallible humans.
    • Isolation and Burden: It underscores his profound loneliness. He is left to carry his burden, whatever its source, alone, without the empathy or understanding he desperately craves. This phrase powerfully conveys his sense of being misunderstood and unjustly treated by those who should have offered comfort.

Literary Devices

Job 19:4 is rich in literary devices that amplify its emotional and theological weight. The most prominent is Assertion, as Job forcefully declares ownership of his spiritual state and rejects the friends' intrusive judgments. This is coupled with a subtle Irony, for while Job hypothetically admits to "error," it is the friends who are truly erring in their judgment and understanding of God's ways, a point God himself will later confirm. The verse also employs Pathos, evoking deep sympathy for Job's plight; his statement is not merely a theological argument but a cry from a man pushed to his emotional limits, seeking to protect his dignity and sanity in the face of relentless, uncompassionate accusations. The structure of the statement, moving from a hypothetical concession ("And be it indeed [that] I have erred") to a firm declaration ("mine error remaineth with myself"), creates a powerful rhetorical effect, emphasizing Job's unwavering conviction despite his suffering.

THEOLOGICAL AND THEMATIC CONNECTIONS

Job 19:4 challenges the simplistic notion that all suffering is a direct, punitive consequence of personal sin, a theological position vigorously defended by Job's friends. While the Bible certainly teaches that sin has consequences, Job's experience, and this verse in particular, underscore that God's ways are often far more complex and mysterious than human understanding can grasp. It highlights the profound truth that righteous individuals can suffer, and their suffering may serve purposes beyond immediate retribution, such as refining faith, revealing God's glory, or challenging human theological constructs. Job's assertion of personal accountability, while rejecting the friends' judgment, points to the individual's direct relationship with God, bypassing human intermediaries who presume to know God's mind and reducing the divine-human interaction to a mere transactional formula.

REFLECTION AND APPLICATION

Job 19:4 offers profound lessons for contemporary believers, particularly in how we approach suffering and judgment. It serves as a powerful cautionary tale against offering simplistic, formulaic explanations for another's pain. Our human capacity to understand the complex reasons behind suffering is limited, and presuming to know God's specific punitive intent can lead to profound spiritual harm, as it did for Job. Instead, this verse calls us to cultivate empathy, humility, and compassion, recognizing that our role is to bear burdens with others, not to add to them through ill-informed judgment. It also reminds us of the importance of personal accountability before God, while simultaneously affirming our right to a private spiritual journey, free from the unwarranted intrusion and condemnation of others. We are called to offer comfort and understanding, remembering that only God truly knows the heart and the full tapestry of His sovereign plan in every life.

Questions for Reflection

  • How do I tend to react when I see others suffering? Do I instinctively look for a cause in their actions, or do I approach with empathy and humility?
  • In what ways might I be tempted to offer simplistic theological explanations for complex life situations, either for myself or for others?
  • How can I better practice bearing my own spiritual burdens before God, while also extending grace and non-judgmental support to those around me?

FAQ

Does Job 19:4 imply Job is admitting he sinned, or is he maintaining his innocence?

Answer: Job 19:4 is a nuanced statement where Job hypothetically concedes the possibility of "error" (Hebrew, shâgâh'), which typically refers to an unintentional mistake or straying, not a deliberate, rebellious sin. He is not admitting to the grave sins his friends accuse him of, which they believe warrant his immense suffering. Instead, he is asserting that even if he had made such an unintentional error, it is his own private burden and does not justify their relentless, public condemnation. He is maintaining his innocence regarding their accusations of specific, heinous sin, while simultaneously pushing back against their right to judge him. His primary aim is to defend his integrity and challenge their rigid, simplistic theology that equates all suffering with direct sin. This aligns with God's later declaration in Job 42:7 that Job "has spoken of me what is right," in contrast to his friends.

CHRIST-CENTERED FULFILLMENT

Job 19:4, with its poignant declaration of Job's personal burden and his rejection of unjust human judgment, finds profound Christ-centered fulfillment in the person and work of Jesus Christ. Job, an innocent sufferer bearing a burden not fully understood by others, foreshadows the ultimate innocent Sufferer. Jesus, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, bore the ultimate "error" – not His own, but the collective sin of humanity. He was unjustly accused, condemned by human judgment, and abandoned by those He came to save, much like Job was by his friends. Yet, unlike Job, who bore his own hypothetical error, Christ truly bore the sins of many, taking upon Himself the full weight of divine wrath, as prophesied in Isaiah 53:4-6. His suffering was not for His own sin, for He "knew no sin" (2 Corinthians 5:21), but for ours. In His crucifixion, Jesus fully embraced the ultimate isolation and burden, crying out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Matthew 27:46). Thus, Job's assertion, "mine error remaineth with myself," finds its ultimate, redemptive echo in Christ, who, in perfect obedience, took our errors upon Himself, ensuring that through His sacrifice, our true error no longer remains with us, but is atoned for, granting us reconciliation and eternal life (Romans 5:8).

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Commentary on Job 19 verses 1–7

Job's friends had passed a very severe censure upon him as a wicked man because he was so grievously afflicted; now here he tells them how ill he took it to be so censured. Bildad had twice begun with a How long (Job 8:2, Job 18:2), and therefore Job, being now to answer him particularly, begins with a How long too, Job 19:2. What is not liked is commonly thought long; but Job had more reason to think those long who assaulted him than they had to think him long who only vindicated himself. Better cause may be shown for defending ourselves, if we have right on our side, than for offending our brethren, though we have right on our side. Now observe here,

I. How he describes their unkindness to him and what account he gives of it. 1. They vexed his soul, and that is more grievous than the vexation of the bones, Psa 6:2, Psa 6:3. They were his friends; they came to comfort him, pretended to counsel him for the best; but with a great deal of gravity, and affectation of wisdom and piety, they set themselves to rob him of the only comfort he had now left him in a good God, a good conscience, and a good name; and this vexed him to his heart. 2. They broke him in pieces with words, and those were surely hard and very cruel words that would break a man to pieces: they grieved him, and so broke him; and therefore there will be a reckoning hereafter for all the hard speeches spoken against Christ and his people, Jde 1:15. 3. They reproached him, (Job 19:3), gave him a bad character and laid to his charge things that he knew not. To an ingenuous mind reproach is a cutting thing. 4. They made themselves strange to him, were shy of him now that he was in his troubles, and seemed as if they did not know him (Job 2:12), were not free with him as they used to be when he was in his prosperity. Those are governed by the spirit of the world, and not by any principles of true honour or love, who make themselves strange to their friends, or God's friends, when they are in trouble. A friend loves at all times. 5. They not only estranged themselves from him, but magnified themselves against him (Job 19:5), not only looked shy of him, but looked big upon him, and insulted over him, magnifying themselves to depress him. It is a mean thing, it is a base thing, thus to trample upon those that are down. 6. They pleaded against him his reproach, that is, they made use of his affliction as an argument against him to prove him a wicked man. They should have pleaded for him his integrity, and helped him to take the comfort of that under his affliction, and so have pleaded that against his reproach (as St. Paul, Co2 1:12); but, instead of that, they pleaded his reproach against his integrity, which was not only unkind, but very unjust; for where shall we find an honest man if reproach may be admitted for a plea against him?

II. How he aggravates their unkindness. 1. They had thus abused him often (Job 19:3): These ten times you have reproached me, that is, very often, as Gen 31:7; Num 14:22. Five times they had spoken, and every speech was a double reproach. He spoke as if he had kept a particular account of their reproaches, and could tell just how many they were. It is but a peevish and unfriendly thing to do so, and looks like a design of retaliation and revenge. We better befriend our own peace by forgetting injuries and unkindnesses than by remembering them and scoring them up. 2. They continued still to abuse him, and seemed resolved to persist in it: "How long will you do it?" Job 19:2, Job 19:5. "I see you will magnify yourselves against me, notwithstanding all I have said in my own justification." Those that speak too much seldom think they have said enough; and, when the mouth is opened in passion, the ear is shut to reason. 3. They were not ashamed of what they did, Job 19:3. They had reason to be ashamed of their hard-heartedness, so ill becoming men, of their uncharitableness, so ill becoming good men, and of their deceitfulness, so ill becoming friends: but were they ashamed? No, though they were told of it again and again, yet they could not blush.

III. How he answers their harsh censures, by showing them that what they condemned was capable of excuse, which they ought to have considered. 1. The errors of his judgment were excusable (Job 19:4): "Be it indeed that I have erred, that I am in the wrong through ignorance or mistake," which may well be supposed concerning men, concerning good men. Humanum est errare - Error cleaves to humanity; and we must be willing to suppose it concerning ourselves. It is folly to think ourselves infallible. "But be it so," said Job, "my error remaineth with myself," that is, "I speak according to the best of my judgment, with all sincerity, and not from a spirit of contradiction." Or, "If I be in an error, I keep it to myself, and do not impose it upon others as you do. I only prove myself and my own work by it. I meddle not with other people, either to teach them or to judge them." Men's errors are the more excusable if they keep them to themselves, and do not disturb others with them. Hast thou faith? Have it to thyself. Some give this sense of these words: "If I be in an error, it is I that must smart for it; and therefore you need not concern yourselves: nay, it is I that do smart, and smart severely, for it; and therefore you need not add to my misery by your reproaches." 2. The breakings out of his passion, though not justifiable, yet were excusable, considering the vastness of his grief and the extremity of his misery. "If you will go on to cavil at every complaining word I speak, will make the worst of it and improve it against me, yet take the cause of the complaint along with you, and weigh that, before you pass a judgment upon the complaint, and turn it to my reproach: Know then that God has overthrown me," Job 19:6. Three things he would have them consider: - (1.) That his trouble was very great. He was overthrown, and could not help himself, enclosed as in a net, and could not get out. (2.) That God was the author of it, and that, in it, he fought against him: "It was his hand that overthrew me; it is in his net that I am enclosed; and therefore you need not appear against me thus. I have enough to do to grapple with God's displeasure; let me not have yours also. Let God's controversy with me be ended before you begin yours." It is barbarous to persecute him whom God hath smitten and to talk to the grief of one whom he hath wounded, Psa 69:26. (3.) That he could not obtain any hope of the redress of his grievances, Job 19:7. He complained of his pain, but got no ease - begged to know the cause of his affliction, but could not discover it - appealed to God's tribunal for the clearing of his innocency, but could not obtain a hearing, much less a judgment, upon his appeal: I cry out of wrong, but I am not heard. God, for a time, may seem to turn away his ear from his people, to be angry at their prayers and overlook their appeals to him, and they must be excused if, in that case, they complain bitterly. Woe unto us if God be against us!

Matthew Henry (1662–1714) — Commentary on the Whole Bible. This section covers verses 1–7. Public domain.
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Origen of AlexandriaAD 253
FRAGMENTS ON JOB 13.15, 29
"And if I—let us suppose—had done things that should not have been done, even if I had been in such a condition, was it not necessary just the same that you felt ashamed while seeing my afflictions, disease, worms and loss of goods? But you approach me without commiserating with me and without feeling any sympathy for my adversities."
John ChrysostomAD 407
COMMENTARY ON JOB 19:3B-6A
Job says this as a concession. He always acts in this manner, by multiplying his concessions. He does not allow the discussion to languish on the same point but begins his fight again. Let us admit, he says, that you reprove my words for being foolish, vain and inopportune. You, nonetheless, had no reason to insult me, even if things were so, but it was necessary to respect my distress, to fear him who had struck me, to forgive because of the greatness of my misfortunes.“But alas! Since you magnify yourselves against me and insult me with reproach,” he says, “know then that it is the Lord that has troubled me.” What do these words mean? That it is necessary to have respect and fear? In my opinion, Job wants to suggest in this passage that if he was suffering so much, it was not because of his faults—in fact, if God strikes one, does one always suffer because of his faults? Not Job, and not many others—but in order to be tested and to achieve more victories.
Gregory the DialogistAD 604
32. Heretics have this about them, that they are swoln by the empty pretensions of their knowledge, and often turn to ridicule the simplicity of those that believe rightly, and account the life of the humble to be of no worth. On the other hand Holy Church, in all that she has really wise in her, keeps low the level of her view in humility, that she be not puffed up by knowledge, nor be made to swell high on the seeking out of things hidden, and venture to dive into points, that are above her powers. For with more profit to herself she is anxious not to know things she is unable to fathom, rather than boldly to define things she does not know. As it is written; It is not good to eat much honey: so he that is a searcher of majesty, shall be overwhelmed by glory. [Prov. 25, 27] For if the sweetness of honey be taken in greater measure than there is occasion for, from the same source whence the palate is gratified, the life of the eater is destroyed, The ‘searching into majesty’ is also sweet; but he, that seeks to dive into it deeper than the cognizance of human nature admits, finds the mere gloriousness thereof by itself oppress him, in that, like honey takes in excess, it bursts the sense of the searcher which is not capable of holding it. Now that is said to be ‘with’ us, which is for us; and on the other hand that is said not to be with us, that is against us; and so, because his own knowledge puffs out the heart of the heretic, while his perception of his own ignorance abases the faithful, let blessed Job say in his own voice, let him say also in the confession of the Church Universal, And be it indeed that I have been ignorant, my ignorance shall be with me. As if it were said in express words to Heretics; ‘All your knowledge is not with you, since it is against you, so long as it uplifts you in foolish pride; but my ignorance is with me, because it is for me; since, whereas I do not dare to search into any thing relating to God in pride of heart, I keep myself in the truth in a spirit of humility.’ And because these very same things that heretics seek to know, they apply perforce to the furtherance of self-elation only, that they may seem learned in contrast to the faithful and humble.
Source: Quotations drawn from early Church Fathers and historical Christian theologians (AD 100–1500). Some quotes address the surrounding passage context rather than this verse alone.
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