Job 9:21

Modern

Though I am blameless, I have no concern for myself; I despise my own life.

Traditional

Though I were perfect, yet would I not know my soul: I would despise my life.

Literal

I am blameless; I do not know my soul; I despise my life.

Latin

Etiam si simplex fuero, hoc ipsum ignorabit anima mea, et tædebit me vitæ meæ.

Hebrew

English

Though I am blameless, I have no concern for myself; I despise my own life.

Job was truly blameless, and he consistently claimed this during the debate (1:1, 7; 2:3; 23:11–12; 27:5; 31:1–40).

Job answered Bildad by describing God's universal and legal power. His speech resembles a complex legal case.

It includes:

A summons and response (9:3, 14–16, 19b, 32).
The risk of proving himself guilty (9:20).
A "mediator" (9:33–34).
A question of accusation (9:12).
A legal sentence (9:22).
A declaration of guilt (9:28–30).

Psalm 139:23–24
Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my concerns.
Job 1:1
There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job. And this man was blameless and upright, fearing God and shunning evil.
Proverbs 28:26
He who trusts in himself is a fool, but one who walks in wisdom will be safe.
1 Corinthians 4:4
My conscience is clear, but that does not vindicate me. It is the Lord who judges me.
Job 7:21
Why do You not pardon my transgression and take away my iniquity? For soon I will lie down in the dust; You will seek me, but I will be no more.”
1 John 3:20
Even if our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our hearts, and He knows all things.
Jeremiah 17:9–10
The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?
Job 7:15–16
…so that I would prefer strangling and death over my life in this body.