אִם־הִתְרָחַ֥צְתִּי בְּמו־שָׁ֑לֶג וַ֝הֲזִכֹּ֗ותִי בְּבֹ֣ר כַּפָּֽי׃
(Job 9:30)
If I wash myself with snow and cleanse my hands with lye.
In this verse, Job continues his lament, speaking about the impossibility of making himself pure before God. He uses the imagery of washing with snow and cleansing with caustic substances, vivid metaphors for extreme attempts at purity. Yet, as the surrounding verses show, Job believes that even these drastic measures cannot render him righteous in God’s sight. The power of this line lies in the stark clash between the imagery of ultimate cleansing and the crushing sense of futility.
Word-by-Word Morphology
- אִם — “if.” A conditional particle, setting up a hypothetical situation.
- הִתְרָחַ֥צְתִּי — “I wash myself.”
– Root: רָחַץ (“to wash, bathe”).
– Form: Hitpael perfect 1cs (reflexive/reciprocal).
– Meaning: “I wash myself” or “I bathe myself.” The reflexive form emphasizes Job’s own attempt at purification. - בְּמו־שָׁ֑לֶג — “with snow.”
– Preposition בְּמו (“with, by means of”) + noun שָׁלֶג (“snow”).
– Snow is a poetic image of purity and whiteness in Hebrew (cf. Isaiah 1:18). Here it functions as an extreme cleansing agent. - וַ֝הֲזִכֹּ֗ותִי — “and cleanse.”
– Root: זָכָה (“to be clean, pure”).
– Form: Hifil perfect 1cs with waw-consecutive nuance.
– Meaning: “I cause myself to be pure, I cleanse.” The causative form suggests deliberate action: Job is trying to make himself clean, not merely become clean passively. - בְּבֹ֣ר — “with lye.”
– Noun בֹּר, a term for alkali/lye, a strong cleaning substance used in antiquity.
– This word intensifies the imagery: not only snow, but also chemical cleansers, could not make Job clean before God. - כַּפָּֽי — “my hands.”
– From כַּף (“palm, hand”) + suffix -י (“my”).
– Hands are symbolic of action and innocence. To wash one’s hands (as in Deut 21:6, Ps 26:6) is to declare one’s deeds pure. Job implies that even this action would be futile.
Syntax and Poetic Flow
The verse is a conditional statement: “If I wash… and cleanse…” but it has no apodosis (no “then…”). The rhetorical effect is suspenseful: Job piles up imagery of purification, only for the next verse (9:31) to undo it by showing that God would still plunge him into the pit. This unfinished structure mirrors Job’s frustration — even hypothetical purity collapses in futility.
The pairing of snow and lye creates a crescendo of cleansing power: one is natural, pure, and symbolic of heaven’s whiteness; the other is human-made, caustic, and harsh. Together they represent every possible means of purification. And yet, Job implies, none of these matter before divine scrutiny.
Theological and Literary Insights
Job 9:30 reveals how Hebrew poetry uses parallel images to intensify a point. The verse dramatizes the futility of human efforts to achieve purity in God’s eyes. Snow evokes divine purity; lye evokes human labor and technology. Both together suggest the limits of human striving. Theologically, this verse anticipates later biblical reflections on purity and atonement, reminding readers that ritual or physical cleansing cannot bridge the gap between humanity and divine holiness.
Pedagogical Lesson
For Hebrew learners, this verse illustrates several important concepts:
- The reflexive use of Hitpael (הִתְרָחַצְתִּי) — verbs that mean “I wash myself.”
- The causative nuance of Hifil (וַ֝הֲזִכֹּ֗ותִי) — verbs that mean “I cause myself to be clean.”
- The layering of imagery: Hebrew often pairs natural and cultural metaphors (snow + lye) for emphasis.
- Syntax that leaves a condition unresolved, pulling meaning forward into the next verse.
Why This Verse Matters
Job 9:30 is not just about washing — it is about despair. It shows us that in Hebrew poetry, even acts of ultimate purification become symbols of futility when measured against divine judgment. For students of the Bible, this verse teaches the importance of reading imagery carefully, recognizing when a metaphor is not literal, and paying attention to unfinished syntax. For Job, the tragedy is that no matter how much snow or lye he uses, his conscience still feels unclean before God. This leaves the reader in a place of longing — a longing for a cleansing that only God Himself can provide.