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Sunday, August 24th, 2025
the Week of Proper 16 / Ordinary 21
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Read the Bible

Bishop's Bible

Job 32:7

For I thought thus within my selfe: It becommeth old men to speake, and the aged to teache wysdome.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Children;   Humility;   Modesty;   Old Age;   Reverence;   Wisdom;   Thompson Chain Reference - Experience (Knowledge Experimental);   Knowledge;   Knowledge, Experimental;   Knowledge-Ignorance;   Wisdom;   Wisdom-Folly;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Children, Good;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Elihu;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Job, the Book of;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Age, Aged, Old Age;   Ethics;   Wisdom;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Elihu;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Age;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Age, Old;   Wisdom;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
I thought that age should speakand maturity should teach wisdom.
Hebrew Names Version
I said, 'Days should speak, And multitude of years should teach wisdom.'
King James Version
I said, Days should speak, and multitude of years should teach wisdom.
English Standard Version
I said, ‘Let days speak, and many years teach wisdom.'
New Century Version
I thought, ‘Older people should speak, and those who have lived many years should teach wisdom.'
New English Translation
I said to myself, ‘Age should speak, and length of years should make wisdom known.'
Amplified Bible
"I thought age should speak, And a multitude of years should teach wisdom.
New American Standard Bible
"I thought age should speak, And increased years should teach wisdom.
World English Bible
I said, 'Days should speak, And multitude of years should teach wisdom.'
Geneva Bible (1587)
For I said, The dayes shall speake, and the multitude of yeeres shall teach wisedome.
Legacy Standard Bible
I thought age should speak,And increased years should make wisdom known.
Berean Standard Bible
I thought that age should speak, and many years should teach wisdom.
Contemporary English Version
I once believed age was the source of wisdom;
Complete Jewish Bible
I said, ‘Age should speak; an abundance of years should teach wisdom.'
Darby Translation
I said, Let days speak, and multitude of years teach wisdom.
Easy-to-Read Version
I thought to myself, ‘Older people should speak first. They have lived many years, so they have learned many things.'
George Lamsa Translation
For I said, Days should speak, and the multitude of years should teach wisdom.
Good News Translation
I told myself that you ought to speak, that you older men should share your wisdom.
Lexham English Bible
I thought, ‘Let days speak, and let many years teach wisdom.'
Literal Translation
I said, Days will speak, and many years will make wisdom known.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
for I thought thus within my self: It becometh olde men to speake, & the aged to teach wy?dome.
American Standard Version
I said, Days should speak, And multitude of years should teach wisdom.
Bible in Basic English
I said to myself, It is right for the old to say what is in their minds, and for those who are far on in years to give out wisdom.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
I said: 'Days should speak, and multitude of years should teach wisdom.'
King James Version (1611)
I said, Dayes should speake, and multitude of yeeres should teach wisedome.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And I said, It is not time that speaks, though in many years men know wisdom:
English Revised Version
I said, Days should speak, and multitude of years should teach wisdom.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
For Y hopide that lengere age schulde speke, and that the multitude of yeeris schulden teche wisdom.
Update Bible Version
I said, Days should speak, And multitude of years should teach wisdom.
Webster's Bible Translation
I said, Days should speak, and multitude of years should teach wisdom.
New King James Version
I said, 'Age [fn] should speak,And multitude of years should teach wisdom.'
New Living Translation
I thought, ‘Those who are older should speak, for wisdom comes with age.'
New Life Bible
I thought the older men should speak, and that the many years should teach wisdom.
New Revised Standard
I said, ‘Let days speak, and many years teach wisdom.'
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
I said, Days, should speak, - and, the multitude of years, should make known wisdom.
Douay-Rheims Bible
For I hoped that greater age would speak, and that a multitude of years would teach wisdom.
Revised Standard Version
I said, 'Let days speak, and many years teach wisdom.'
Young's Literal Translation
I said: Days do speak, And multitude of years teach wisdom.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
"I thought age should speak, And increased years should teach wisdom.

Contextual Overview

6 Therfore Elihu the sonne of Barachel the Buzite aunswered, and sayde: [Considering that] I am young, and ye be men of age, I was afrayde, and durst not shewe foorth my mynde. 7 For I thought thus within my selfe: It becommeth old men to speake, and the aged to teache wysdome. 8 Euery man no doubt hath a mynde, but it is the inspiration of the almightie that geueth vnderstanding. 9 Great men are not alway wyse, neither doth euery aged man vnderstande the thing that is lawfull: 10 Therefore I say, heare me, and I wil shewe you also myne vnderstanding. 11 For when I had wayted till ye made an end of your talking, and hearde your wysdome, what argumentes ye made in your communication, 12 Yea when I had diligently pondred what ye sayde, I found not one of you that made any good argument against Iob, that directly could make aunswere vnto his wordes, 13 Lest ye should say: We haue found out wisdome, God shall cast hym downe, and no man. 14 He hath not spoken vnto me, and I wil not aunswere hym as ye haue done.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Job 8:8-10, Job 12:12, 1 Kings 12:6-8, Psalms 34:11, Psalms 34:12, Proverbs 1:1-4, Proverbs 16:31, Hebrews 5:12

Reciprocal: 2 Chronicles 10:6 - took counsel Job 8:10 - Shall not Job 12:2 - ye are the people Job 15:10 - the grayheaded Job 20:4 - thou not Psalms 37:25 - I have Acts 6:3 - full Galatians 2:6 - it maketh

Cross-References

Genesis 32:4
And he commaunded them, saying: Thus shall ye speake to my Lorde Esau, thy seruaunt Iacob sayeth thus: I haue ben a straunger with Laban, and haue stayed there vnto this time.
Genesis 32:5
And haue oxen, asses, and sheepe, menseruauntes, and womenseruauntes: and haue sent to shewe [it] my Lord, that I may finde grace in thy sight.
Genesis 32:8
And sayd, if Esau come to the one part and smite it, the other shall saue it selfe.
Genesis 32:10
I am not worthy of the least of all the mercyes and trueth whiche thou hast shewed vnto thy seruaunt: for with my staffe came I ouer this Iordane, & nowe haue I gotten two companies.
Genesis 32:11
Deliuer me from the hand of my brother Esau, for I feare hym, lest he wyll come and smyte me, [yea] the mother with the chyldren.
Genesis 35:3
For we wyll aryse and go vp to Bethel, and I wyll make an aulter there vnto God, whiche hearde me in the day of my affliction, and was with me in the way whiche I went.
Exodus 14:10
And when Pharao drewe nygh, the chyldren of Israel lift vp their eyes, and beholde, the Egyptians folowed after them, and they were sore afrayde: and the chyldren of Israel cryed out vnto the Lorde.
Psalms 31:13
For I haue hearde the villanie of the multitude, and feare was on euery side [me]: whyle they conspired together against me, [and] toke their counsell to take away my life.
Psalms 61:2
From the endes of the earth I wyll call vnto thee when my heart is in heauines: oh set me vp on the rocke that is higher then I.
Psalms 107:6
And they cry vnto god in their trouble: who deliuereth them fro their distresse.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

I said, days should speak,.... That is, men of days, of many days, who have lived many days and years in the world: man in common is but of few days, even the most that men arrive to are but few; and some indeed are very few, in comparison of whom others may be said to be men of days, or to have lived many days; and to such it belongs to speak, it is their place, nor should they be prevented or interrupted; it should be allowed them to speak, nor should they be hindered; and it is their duty to speak and instruct juniors, and all that are under them; and it might be reasonably expected, that when they speak it will be to the purpose, and to profit and edification:

and multitude of years should teach wisdom; that is, such over whom many have passed; these it may be thought, having had an opportunity of making their observation on things, and of increasing experience, and of treasuring up a stock of knowledge, they should be very capable of, and indeed the only fit persons to teach others wisdom; either natural wisdom, or the knowledge of natural things; or divine wisdom, the knowledge of God, of his perfections and providences; and inward, spiritual, and evangelical wisdom, which lies in the knowledge of a man's self; in the knowledge of God in Christ; in the knowledge of Christ and of the Gospel of Christ, and the truths of it: this was a sentiment Elihu had entertained of ancient men, and this had restrained him from entering sooner into this debate between Job and his friends; they all being his superiors in age, and, as from thence he judged, in wisdom and knowledge also.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

I said, Days should speak - The aged ought to speak. They have had the advantage of long observation of the course of events; they are acquainted with the sentiments of past times; they may have had an opportunity of conversing with distinguished sages, and it is to them that we look up for counsel. This was eminently in accordance with the ancient Oriental views of what is right; and it is a sentiment which accords with what is obviously proper, however little it is regarded in modern times. It is one of the marks of urbanity and true politeness; of the prevalence of good breeding, morals, and piety, and of an advanced state of society, when respect is shown to the sentiments of the aged. They have had the opportunity of long observation. They have conversed much with people. They have seen the results of certain courses of conduct, and they have arrived at a period of life when they can look at the reality of things, and are uninfluenced now by passion. Returning respect for the sentiments of the aged, attention to their counsels, veneration for their persons, and deference for them when they speak, would be an indication of advancement in society in modern times; and there is scarcely anything in which we have deteriorated from the simplicity of the early ages, or in which we fall behind the Oriental world, so much as in the lack of this.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Job 32:7. Days should speak — That is, men are to be reputed wise and experienced in proportion to the time they have lived. The Easterns were remarkable for treasuring up wise sayings: indeed, the principal part of their boasted wisdom consisted in proverbs and maxims on different subjects.


 
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