the Week of Proper 24 / Ordinary 29
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King James Version
Job 32:13
Bible Study Resources
Dictionaries:
- HolmanParallel Translations
And don't tell me, ‘He is too wise for us. Only God can convince him.'
Beware lest ye say, We have found wisdom; God may vanquish him, not man:
Beware you don't say, We have found wisdom; God may vanquish him, not man:
Don't say, ‘We have found wisdom; only God will show Job to be wrong, not people.'
So do not say, ‘We have found wisdom! God will refute him, not man!'
Lest ye should say, We have found out wisdom: God thrusteth him down, not man.
Beware lest you say, 'We have found wisdom, God may refute him, not man:'
"Beware if you say, 'We have found wisdom; God thrusts Job down [justly], not man [for God alone is dealing with him].'
Beware lest you say, ‘We have found wisdom; God may vanquish him, not a man.'
lest perauenture ye seien, We han founde wisdom; God, and not man, hath cast hym awei.
So do not claim, 'We have found wisdom; let God, not man, refute him.'
You shouldn't say, "We know what's right! Let God punish him."
Beware lest ye say, We have found wisdom; God may vanquish him, not man:
Take care that you do not say, Wisdom is here; God may overcome him, but not man.
So don't say, ‘We found the wise course — Let God defeat him, not a human being.'
That ye may not say, We have found out wisdom; God will make him yield, not man.
You men cannot say that you have found wisdom. The answer to Job's arguments must come from God, not people.
Beware lest ye say: 'We have found wisdom; God may vanquish him, not man!'
Lest ye should say, We haue found out wisdom: God thrusteth him down, not man.
Do not say, ‘We have found wisdom. God will show he is wrong, not man.'
Yet do not say, ‘We have found wisdom; God may vanquish him, not a human.'
Lest ye should say, We haue found wisedome: for God hath cast him downe, and no man.
So that you could not say, We have found wisdom. God has smitten him, not man.
How can you claim you have discovered wisdom? God must answer Job, for you have failed.
Lest ye should say, We have found out wisdom. GOD, must put him to flight, not man.
Lest you should say: We have found wisdom, God hath cast him down, not man.
Beware lest you say, 'We have found wisdom; God may vanquish him, not man.'
Lest ye should say: We haue found out wisdome, God shall cast hym downe, and no man.
lest ye should say, We have found that we have added wisdom to the Lord.
So do not claim, “We have found wisdom;let God deal with him, not man.”
Beware lest you say, 'We have found wisdom, God may refute him, not man:'
So do not say, ‘We have found wisdom; let God refute him, not a man.'
that you not say, We have discovered wisdom. It is God who will scatter him, not man.
Lest ye say, We have found wisdom, God doth thrust him away, not man.
lest ye shulde prayse youre selues, to haue founde out wy?dome: because it is God that hath cast him out, & no man.
"So do not say, 'We have found wisdom: God will defeat him, not man.'
Lest you say, "We have found wisdom'; God will vanquish him, not man.
"Do not say, 'We have found wisdom; God will rout him, not man.'
Lest you say,‘We have found wisdom;God will drive him away, not man.'
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
Lest: Genesis 14:23, Judges 7:2, Isaiah 48:5, Isaiah 48:7, Zechariah 12:7
We: Job 12:2, Job 15:8-10, Isaiah 5:21, Jeremiah 9:23, Ezekiel 28:3, 1 Corinthians 1:19-21, 1 Corinthians 1:27-29, 1 Corinthians 3:18
God: Job 1:21, Job 2:10, Job 4:9, Job 6:4, Job 19:6, Job 19:21, John 19:11
Reciprocal: Job 20:2 - my thoughts
Cross-References
And he lift up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him: and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground,
And say ye moreover, Behold, thy servant Jacob is behind us. For he said, I will appease him with the present that goeth before me, and afterward I will see his face; peradventure he will accept of me.
So went the present over before him: and himself lodged that night in the company.
And Jacob said, Nay, I pray thee, if now I have found grace in thy sight, then receive my present at my hand: for therefore I have seen thy face, as though I had seen the face of God, and thou wast pleased with me.
And Joseph was the governor over the land, and he it was that sold to all the people of the land: and Joseph's brethren came, and bowed down themselves before him with their faces to the earth.
And their father Israel said unto them, If it must be so now, do this; take of the best fruits in the land in your vessels, and carry down the man a present, a little balm, and a little honey, spices, and myrrh, nuts, and almonds:
And when Joseph came home, they brought him the present which was in their hand into the house, and bowed themselves to him to the earth.
Ask thy young men, and they will shew thee. Wherefore let the young men find favour in thine eyes: for we come in a good day: give, I pray thee, whatsoever cometh to thine hand unto thy servants, and to thy son David.
And now this blessing which thine handmaid hath brought unto my lord, let it even be given unto the young men that follow my lord.
A gift is as a precious stone in the eyes of him that hath it: whithersoever it turneth, it prospereth.
Gill's Notes on the Bible
Lest ye should say, we have found out wisdom,.... They were left to themselves, and not directed to take the proper methods of convincing Job, and answering his arguments; lest they should be wise in their own conceits, and attribute too much to themselves; or Elihu told them this, that they had not convicted Job, though they had condemned him, nor answered his arguments, though they had left off speaking; and this he was obliged to say, and that for the reason before observed: for all wisdom is of God, and not to be found out or acquired by men; not natural wisdom, that is not of men, but of God, and especially supernatural wisdom, or the knowledge of divine and spiritual things, and the reason of God's dealings with the sons of men in the different manner he does, see Job 28:12;
God thrusteth him down, not man: some think Elihu says this in reference to himself, whom God would make use of as an instrument to convince Job and answer his arguments; and that he would ascribe this not to himself, but to God; they took a natural way to convince Job, which failed, that they might not be proud of their own wisdom; he should take a more divine and spiritual method, and, if he succeeded, he should give all the glory to God, and ascribe nothing to himself: as in the conviction and conversion of a sinner, though ministers are instruments, it is not by might or power of men, but by the Spirit of the Lord of Hosts; it is God that thrusts down man from a vain opinion he has of himself; that convinces him of sin, that takes him off of his own righteousness, and humbles him, and lays him low at his feet: but they rather seem to be the words of Job's friends, as related by Elihu; and the sense is in connection with the former, either that they found it was the wisest method they could take with Job to be silent, and leave him to himself, lest they should add to his afflict; on; to which Jarchi inclines, who paraphrases it,
"we found wisdom by our silence, that we may not provoke him any more;''
which, if their sense, shows more tenderness and compassion than they had hitherto expressed, and answers pretty much to the advice given 2 Corinthians 2:6; or else their meaning is, that they found it the best and wisest way to leave him with God, he being so obstinate and incorrigible that none but God could move him; it was not in the power of men, or of words used by men, to make him sensible of things; or rather the meaning is, Elihu was obliged to tell them, that none of them had convinced Job, or answered his arguments, lest they should say, we have found out a wise and strong argument, proving the charge brought against him, that he must be a wicked man and an hypocrite, since God has so sorely afflicted him, and thrust him down from all his grandeur and dignity; which no man could ever have done, and God would not, if he had not been the man we suppose him to be; now Elihu's view is to observe to them, that there was nothing in this argument convincing, in which they imagined so much wisdom lay. Job's afflictions, indeed, were of God, and not men; and which he often owns himself; but this was no proof or argument of his being a wicked man: Mr. Broughton renders the words,
"the Omnipotent doth toss him, not man.''
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
Lest ye should say, We have found out wisdom - That is, this has been permitted and ordered in such a manner that it might be manifest that the truths which are to convince him come from God and not from man. You were not permitted to refute or convince him, for if you had been you would have been lifted up with pride, and would have attributed to yourselves what belongs to God. This is in accordance with the entire drift of the book, which is to introduce the Almighty himself to settle the controversy when human wisdom failed. They could not arrogate to themselves the claim that they had found out wisdom. They had been completely silenced by Job; they had no power to drive him from his positions; they could not explain the divine dealings so as to settle the great inquiry in which they had been engaged. Elihu proposes to do it, and to do it in such a way as to show that it could be accomplished only by that wisdom which is from above.
God thrusteth him down, not man - These are the words of Elihu. The meaning is, âGod only can drive Job from his position, and show him the truth, and humble him. The wisdom of man fails. The aged, the experienced, and the wise have been unable to meet his arguments and bring him down from the positions which he has taken. That work can be done only by God himself, or by the wisdom which he only can give.â Accordingly Elihu, who proposes to meet the arguments of Job, makes no appeal to experience or observation; he does not ground what he says on the maxims of sages or the results of reflection, but proposes to adduce the precepts of wisdom which God had imparted to him; Job 33:4, Job 33:6. Other interpretations have, however, been given of this verse, but the above seems to me the most simple, and most in accordance with the scope of the passage.
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
Verse Job 32:13. We have found out wisdom — We by dint of our own wisdom and understanding, have found out the true system of God's providence; and have been able to account for all the sufferings and tribulations of Job. Had they been able to confute Job, they would have triumphed over him in their own self-sufficiency.
God thrusteth him down, not man. — This is no accidental thing that has happened to him: he is suffering under the just judgments of God, and therefore he must be the wicked man which we supposed him to be.
