Job 8:3

8:3 Does God pervert ¹  justice? ² 

Or does the Almighty pervert ³  what is right?

Job 36:23

36:23 Who has prescribed his ways for him?

Or said to him, ‘You have done what is wicked’?

Job 37:23

37:23 As for the Almighty, ⁴  we cannot attain to him!

He is great in power,

but justice ⁵  and abundant righteousness he does not oppress.

Genesis 18:25

18:25 Far be it from you to do such a thing – to kill the godly with the wicked, treating the godly and the wicked alike! Far be it from you! Will not the judge ⁶  of the whole earth do what is right?” ⁷ 

Deuteronomy 32:4

32:4 As for the Rock, ⁸  his work is perfect,

for all his ways are just.

He is a reliable God who is never unjust,

he is fair ⁹  and upright.

Deuteronomy 32:2

32:2 My teaching will drop like the rain,

my sayings will drip like the dew, ¹⁰ 

as rain drops upon the grass,

and showers upon new growth.

Deuteronomy 19:7

19:7 Therefore, I am commanding you to set apart for yourselves three cities.

Psalms 92:15

92:15 So they proclaim that the Lord, my protector,

is just and never unfair. ¹¹ 

Jeremiah 12:1

12:1 Lord, you have always been fair

whenever I have complained to you. ¹² 

However, I would like to speak with you about the disposition of justice. ¹³ 

Why are wicked people successful? ¹⁴ 

Why do all dishonest people have such easy lives?

Romans 3:4-5

3:4 Absolutely not! Let God be proven true, and every human being ¹⁵  shown up as a liar, ¹⁶  just as it is written: “so that you will be justified ¹⁷  in your words and will prevail when you are judged.” ¹⁸ 

3:5 But if our unrighteousness demonstrates ¹⁹  the righteousness of God, what shall we say? The God who inflicts wrath is not unrighteous, is he? ²⁰  (I am speaking in human terms.) ²¹ 

Romans 9:14

9:14 What shall we say then? Is there injustice with God? Absolutely not!

James 1:13

1:13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted by evil, ²²  and he himself tempts no one.

[8:3]  ¹ tn The Piel verb יְעַוֵּת (yÿ’avvet) means “to bend; to cause to swerve from the norm; to deviate; to pervert.” The LXX renders the first colon as “will the Lord be unjust when he judges?”

[8:3]  ² tn The first word is מִשְׁפָּת (mishpat, “justice”). It can mean an act of judgment, place of judgment, or what is just, that is, the outcome of the decision. It basically describes an umpire’s decision. The parallel word is צֶדֶק (tsedeq, “righteousness,” or “what is right”). The basic idea here is that which conforms to the standard, what is right. See S. H. Scholnick, “The Meaning of Mishpat in the Book of Job,” JBL 101 (1982): 521-29.

[8:3]  ³ tn Some commentators think that the second verb should be changed in order to avoid the repetition of the same word and to reflect the different words in the versions. The suggestion is to read יְעַוֵּה (yÿ’avveh) instead; this would mean “to cause someone to deviate,” for the root means “to bend.” The change is completely unwarranted; the LXX probably chose different words for stylistic reasons (see D. J. A. Clines, Job [WBC], 198). The repetition in the Hebrew text is a common type; it strengthens the enormity of the charge Job seems to be making.

[37:23]  ⁴ tn The name “Almighty” is here a casus pendens, isolating the name at the front of the sentence and resuming it with a pronoun.

[37:23]  ⁵ tn The MT places the major disjunctive accent (the atnach) under “power,” indicating that “and justice” as a disjunctive clause starting the second half of the verse (with ESV, NASB, NIV, NLT). Ignoring the Masoretic accent, NRSV has “he is great in power and justice.”

[18:25]  ⁶ tn Or “ruler.”

[18:25]  ⁷ sn Will not the judge of the whole earth do what is right? For discussion of this text see J. L. Crenshaw, “Popular Questioning of the Justice of God in Ancient Israel,” ZAW 82 (1970): 380-95, and C. S. Rodd, “Shall Not the Judge of All the Earth Do What Is Just?” ExpTim 83 (1972): 137-39.

[32:4]  ⁸ tc The LXX reads Θεός (qeos, “God”) for the MT’s “Rock.”

[32:4]  ⁹ tn Or “just” (KJV, NAB, NRSV, NLT) or “righteous” (NASB).

[32:2]  ¹⁰ tn Or “mist,” “light drizzle.” In some contexts the term appears to refer to light rain, rather than dew.

[92:15]  ¹¹ tn Heb “so that [they] proclaim that upright [is] the Lord, my rocky summit, and there is no injustice in him.”

[12:1]  ¹² tn Or “Lord, you are fair when I present my case before you.”

[12:1]  ¹³ tn Heb “judgments” or “matters of justice.” For the nuance of “complain to,” “fair,” “disposition of justice” assumed here, see BDB 936 s.v. רִיב Qal.4 (cf. Judg 21:22); BDB 843 s.v. צַדִּיק 1.d (cf. Ps 7:12; 11:7); BDB 1049 s.v. מִשְׁפָּט 1.f (cf. Isa 26:8; Ps 10:5; Ezek 7:27).

[12:1]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “Why does the way [= course of life] of the wicked prosper?”

[3:4]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “every man”; but ἄνθρωπος (anqrwpo") is used in a generic sense here to stress humanity rather than masculinity.

[3:4]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “Let God be true, and every man a liar.” The words “proven” and “shown up” are supplied in the translation to clarify the meaning.

[3:4]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “might be justified,” a subjunctive verb, but in this type of clause it carries the same sense as the future indicative verb in the latter part. “Will” is more idiomatic in contemporary English.

[3:4]  ¹⁸ tn Or “prevail when you judge.” A quotation from Ps 51:4.

[3:5]  ¹⁹ tn Or “shows clearly.”

[3:5]  ²⁰ tn Grk “That God is not unjust to inflict wrath, is he?”

[3:5]  ²¹ sn The same expression occurs in Gal 3:15, and similar phrases in Rom 6:19 and 1 Cor 9:8.

[1:13]  ²² tn Or “God must not be tested by evil people.”