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Contemporary English Version

Job 26:4

How can anyone possibly speak with such understanding?

Bible Study Resources

Dictionaries:

- Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Omnipotence of God;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Job, the Book of;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Job;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
With whom did you speak these words?Whose breath came out of your mouth?
Hebrew Names Version
To whom have you uttered words? Whose spirit came forth from you?
King James Version
To whom hast thou uttered words? and whose spirit came from thee?
English Standard Version
With whose help have you uttered words, and whose breath has come out from you?
New Century Version
Who has helped you say these words? And where did you get these ideas?
New English Translation
To whom did you utter these words? And whose spirit has come forth from your mouth?
Amplified Bible
"To whom have you uttered [these] words? And whose spirit [inspired what] came forth from you?
New American Standard Bible
"To whom have you uttered words? And whose spirit was expressed through you?
World English Bible
To whom have you uttered words? Whose spirit came forth from you?
Geneva Bible (1587)
To whom doest thou declare these words? or whose spirit commeth out of thee?
Legacy Standard Bible
To whom have you declared words?And whose breath comes out from you?
Berean Standard Bible
To whom have you uttered these words? And whose spirit spoke through you?
Complete Jewish Bible
Who helped you to say these words? Whose spirit is it, coming forth from you?
Darby Translation
For whom hast thou uttered words? and whose spirit came from thee?
Easy-to-Read Version
Who helped you say these things? Whose spirit inspired you to speak?
George Lamsa Translation
To whom have you uttered words? And whose soul has come forth from you?
Good News Translation
Who do you think will hear all your words? Who inspired you to speak like this?
Lexham English Bible
With whose help have you uttered words, and whose breath has come forth from you?
Literal Translation
With whom have you spoken words? And whose breath came forth from you?
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Before whom hast thou spoken those wordes? Who made the breth to come out of ye mouth?
American Standard Version
To whom hast thou uttered words? And whose spirit came forth from thee?
Bible in Basic English
To whom have your words been said? and whose spirit came out from you?
JPS Old Testament (1917)
With whose help hast thou uttered words? And whose spirit came forth from thee?
King James Version (1611)
To whom hast thou vttered words? and whose spirit came from thee?
Bishop's Bible (1568)
To whom hast thou spoken these wordes? who made the breath to come out of thy mouth?
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
To whom hast thou uttered words? and whose breath is it that has come forth from thee?
English Revised Version
To whom hast thou uttered words? and whose spirit came forth from thee?
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Ether whom woldist thou teche? whether not hym, that made brething?
Update Bible Version
To whom have you uttered words? And whose spirit came forth from you?
Webster's Bible Translation
To whom hast thou uttered words? and whose spirit came from thee?
New King James Version
To whom have you uttered words? And whose spirit came from you?
New Living Translation
Where have you gotten all these wise sayings? Whose spirit speaks through you?
New Life Bible
To whom have your words been said? And from whose spirit have you spoken?
New Revised Standard
With whose help have you uttered words, and whose spirit has come forth from you?
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Whom hast thou taught speech? Whose inspiration hath come from thee?
Douay-Rheims Bible
Whom hast thou desired to teach? was it not him that made life?
Revised Standard Version
With whose help have you uttered words, and whose spirit has come forth from you?
Young's Literal Translation
With whom hast thou declared words? And whose breath came forth from thee?
New American Standard Bible (1995)
"To whom have you uttered words? And whose spirit was expressed through you?

Contextual Overview

1 Job's Reply to Bildad Job said: 2 You have really been helpful to someone weak and weary. 3 You have given great advice and wonderful wisdom to someone truly in need. 4 How can anyone possibly speak with such understanding?

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

whose spirit: Job 20:3, Job 32:18, 1 Kings 22:23, 1 Kings 22:24, Ecclesiastes 12:7, 1 Corinthians 12:3, 1 John 4:1-3, Revelation 16:13, Revelation 16:14

Reciprocal: Job 15:9 - knowest Luke 9:55 - Ye know

Cross-References

Genesis 13:16
I will give you more descendants than there are specks of dust on the earth, and someday it will be easier to count the specks of dust than to count your descendants.
Genesis 15:5
Then the Lord took Abram outside and said, "Look at the sky and see if you can count the stars. That's how many descendants you will have."
Genesis 15:18
At that time the Lord made an agreement with Abram and told him: I will give your descendants the land east of the Shihor River on the border of Egypt as far as the Euphrates River.
Genesis 18:18
since his family will become a great and powerful nation that will be a blessing to all other nations on earth.
Genesis 26:2
because the Lord had appeared to Isaac and said: Isaac, stay away from Egypt! I will show you where I want you to go.
Genesis 26:3
You will live there as a foreigner, but I will be with you and bless you. I will keep my promise to your father Abraham by giving this land to you and your descendants.
Genesis 26:4
I will give you as many descendants as there are stars in the sky, and I will give your descendants all of this land. They will be a blessing to every nation on earth,
Genesis 26:8
After Isaac had been there a long time, King Abimelech looked out a window and saw Isaac hugging and kissing Rebekah.
Genesis 26:17
Isaac left and settled in Gerar Valley,
Genesis 26:18
where he cleaned out those wells that the Philistines had stopped up. Isaac also gave each of the wells the same name that Abraham had given to them.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

To whom hast thou uttered words?.... That others know not; dost thou think thou art talking to an ignorant man? be it known to thee, that he knows as much, and can say as much of the Divine Being, of his glories, and of his wondrous ways and works, as thyself, or more: or dost thou consider the circumstances he is in thou art speaking to? one under great affliction and distress, to whom it must be unsuitable to talk of the greatness and majesty of God, of his power and strength, of his purity, holiness, and strict justice; it would have been more proper and pertinent to have discoursed concerning his loving kindness, grace, and mercy, his pity and compassion towards his afflicted people, his readiness to forgive their sins, and overlook their failings; and concerning the promised Redeemer, his righteousness and sacrifice, and of the many instances of divine goodness to the sons of men, and in such like circumstances, by raising them up again, and restoring them to their former happiness. Some things of this nature would have been more pertinent and suitable, and would have been doing both a wise and friendly part:

and whose spirit came from thee? Not the spirit of God; dost thou think thyself inspired by God? or that what thou hast said is by the inspiration of his Spirit? or that thou speakest like such who are moved by the Holy Ghost? nor indeed was it his own spirit, or the words and things uttered were not of himself, or flowed not from his own knowledge and understanding: of things, but what he had borrowed from Eliphaz; for he had delivered very little more than what Eliphaz had said, Job 4:17; or else the sense is, whose spirit has been restored, revived, refreshed, and comforted by what thou hast said? The word of God has such efficacy as to restore the soul, to revive it when drooping, and as it were swooning away and dying, see

Psalms 19:7; and the words of some good men are spirit and life, the savour of life unto life, and are as life from the dead, very refreshing and comforting; but no such effect followed on what Bildad had said. Mr. Broughton renders the words, "whose soul admired thee?" thou mayest admire thyself, and thy friends may admire thee, at least thou mayest think they do, having said in thine own opinion admirable things; but who else does? for my own part I do not; and, if saying great and glorious things of God are to any purpose in the controversy between us, I am capable of speaking greater and better things than what have been delivered; and, for instance, let the following be attended to.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

To whom hast thou uttered words? - Jerome renders this, Quem docere voluisti? “Whom do you wish to teach?” The sense is, “Do you attempt to teach me in such a manner, on such a subject? Do you take it that I am so ignorant of the perfections of God, that such remarks about him would convey any real instruction?”

And whose spirit came from thee? - That is, by whose spirit didst thou speak? What claims hast thou to inspiration, or to the uttering of sentiments beyond what man himself could originate? The meaning is, that there was nothing remarkable in what he had said that would show that he had been indebted for it either to God or to the wise and good on earth.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Job 26:4. Whose spirit came from thee? — Mr. Good renders the verse thus: From whom hast thou pillaged speeches? And whose spirit hath issued forth from thee? The retort is peculiarly severe; and refers immediately to the proverbial sayings which in several of the preceding answers have been adduced against the irritated sufferer; for which see Job 8:11-19; Job 15:20-35, some of which he has already complained of, as in Job 12:3, and following. I concur most fully therefore with Dr. Stock in regarding the remainder of this chapter as a sample, ironically exhibited by Job, of the harangues on the power and greatness of God which he supposes his friends to have taken out of the mouths of other men, to deck their speeches with borrowed lustre. Only, in descanting on the same subject, he shows how much he himself can go beyond them in eloquence and sublimity.

Job intimates that, whatever spirit they had, it was not the Spirit of God, because in their answers falsehood was found.


 
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