The Meaning of Job 25:4 Explained

Job 25:4

KJV: How then can man be justified with God? or how can he be clean that is born of a woman?

YLT: And what? is man righteous with God? And what? is he pure -- born of a woman?

Darby: And how should man be just with God? Or how should he be clean that is born of a woman?

ASV: How then can man be just with God? Or how can he be clean that is born of a woman?

KJV Reverse Interlinear

How then can man  be justified  with God?  or how can he be clean  [that is] born  of a woman? 

What does Job 25:4 Mean?

Context Summary

Job 25:1-6 - How Can Man Be Just Before God?
Bildad's closing speech adds little to the controversy. He suggests simply that Job's vindications of himself do not imply that he is righteous before God, and, acting upon the philosophy of the time, Bildad prefers to consider that Job is guilty of unrealized sins rather than believe that God has permitted suffering to come to Him unmerited.
There are some unanswerable questions in this paragraph-suggestions full of helpfulness. God's armies are numberless-ten thousand times ten thousand, and every angel is pledged to our help. His light shines everywhere, even on the saddest hearts. Not one of us can be just before Him, but we may avail ourselves of the justifying righteousness of Christ, which, as Bunyan says, is always the same, not increased by our good frames of mind or lessened by our bad ones. None of woman born are clean, but the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses from all sin. Moon and stars pale and pass away, but God hath set His heart upon His saints, and hath adopted them into His family. And when the fabric of nature shall have decayed, they shall shine as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. [source]

Chapter Summary: Job 25

1  Bildad shows that man cannot be justified before God

What do the individual words in Job 25:4 mean?

then how can be righteous man before God Or what can be pure [that is] born of a woman
וּמַה־ יִּצְדַּ֣ק אֱנ֣וֹשׁ עִם־ ؟ אֵ֑ל וּמַה־ יִּ֝זְכֶּ֗ה יְל֣וּד ؟ אִשָּֽׁה

וּמַה־  then  how 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Interrogative
Root: לָמָּה 
Sense: what, how, of what kind.
יִּצְדַּ֣ק  can  be  righteous 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Imperfect, third person masculine singular
Root: צָדַק  
Sense: to be just, be righteous.
אֱנ֣וֹשׁ  man 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular
Root: אֱנׄושׁ 
Sense: man, mortal man, person, mankind.
עִם־  before 
Parse: Preposition
Root: עִם  
Sense: with.
؟ אֵ֑ל  God 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular
Root: אֵל 
Sense: god, god-like one, mighty one.
וּמַה־  Or  what 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Interrogative
Root: לָמָּה 
Sense: what, how, of what kind.
יִּ֝זְכֶּ֗ה  can  be  pure 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Imperfect, third person masculine singular
Root: זָכָה  
Sense: to be clean, be pure, be clear.
יְל֣וּד  [that  is]  born 
Parse: Verb, Qal, QalPassParticiple, masculine singular construct
Root: יָלַד 
Sense: to bear, bring forth, beget, gender, travail.
؟ אִשָּֽׁה  of  a  woman 
Parse: Noun, feminine singular
Root: אִשָּׁה  
Sense: woman, wife, female.