Job 9:30

Job 9:30

If I wash myself with snow water, and make my hands never so clean;

a. NLT: Even if I were to wash myself with soap and clean my hands with lye,

b. NIV: Even if I washed myself with soap and my hands with cleansing powder,

c. YLT: If I have washed myself with snow-water, And purified with soap my hands,

d. Amplified Bible Classic: If I wash myself with snow and cleanse my hands with lye,

e. Septuagint: For if I should wash myself with snow, and purge myself with pure hands,

f. Stone Edition Torah/Prophets/Writings: Though I would wash myself in melted snow and I would cleanse my hands with soap.

1. “If I wash myself with snow water…”

a. if I wash myself [7364 *  rachats] [Strong: a primitive root; to lave (the whole or a part of a thing):--bathe (self), wash (self).]

b. snow water [7950 * sheleg] [Strong: from 7949; snow (probably from its whiteness):--snow(-y).]

c. water [4325 * mayim] [Strong: dual of a primitive noun (but used in a singular sense); water; figuratively, juice; by euphemism, urine, semen:--+ piss, wasting, water(-ing, (-course, -flood, -spring)).]

d. [1119 * bmow] [Strong: prolongation for prepositional prefix; in, with, by, etc.:--for, in into, through.]

2. “…and make my hands never so clean;”

a. and make my hands [3709 * kaph] [Strong: from 3721; the hollow hand or palm (so of the paw of an animal, of the sole, and even of the bowl of a dish or sling, the handle of a bolt, the leaves of a palm-tree); figuratively, power:--branch, + foot, hand((-ful), -dle, (-led)), hollow, middle, palm, paw, power, sole, spoon.]

b. never [1252 * bor] [Strong: from 1305; purify:--cleanness, pureness.]

c. never [1253 * bor] [Strong: bore the same as 1252; vegetable lye (from its cleansing); used as a soap for washing, or a flux for metals:--X never so, purely.]

d. so clean [2141 * zakak zaw-kak' a primitive root (Compare 2135); to be transparent or clean (phys. or morally):--be (make) clean, be pure(-r).]

1). The cleanness that Job longs for can only come from God. Simply washing ourselves with natural waters cannot produce Job’s desired cleanness.

a). Psalm 119:9 Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word.

b). Isaiah 1:16-18 Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil;

1:17 Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.

1:18 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

c). Hebrews 10:22 Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.