That He would show you the secrets of wisdom! For they would double your prudence. Know therefore that God exacts from you Less than your iniquity deserves.
Parallel translations
- WEB that he would show you the secrets of wisdom! For true wisdom has two sides. Know therefore that God exacts of you less than your iniquity deserves.
- KJV And that he would shew thee the secrets of wisdom, that they are double to that which is! Know therefore that God exacteth of thee less than thine iniquity deserveth.
- BSB and disclose to you the secrets of wisdom, for true wisdom has two sides. Know then that God exacts from you less than your iniquity deserves.
- NASB And show you the secrets of wisdom! For sound wisdom has two sides. Know then that God forgets part of your guilt.
- NLT If only he would tell you the secrets of wisdom, for true wisdom is not a simple matter. Listen! God is doubtless punishing you far less than you deserve!
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Zophar claims God would reveal wisdom's hidden depths and show that He punishes Job less than his sin deserves. He insists Job is getting off lightly.
Overview
Zophar asserts that God's wisdom is many-sided and that, if revealed, it would show Job's suffering is mild compared to his guilt. While it is true that God exacts less than sins deserve, Zophar wrongly applies this to a man God Himself called blameless (Job 1:8). The truth he half-grasps shines fully in the gospel, where God spares us what our sins deserve through the cross (Ezra 9:13; Romans 6:23).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 17
- Ezra 9:13“After all that has come on us for our evil deeds, and for our great guilt, since you, our God, have punished us less than our iniquities deserve, and have given us such a remnant,
- Lam 3:22It is because of Yahweh’s loving kindnesses that we are not consumed, because his compassion doesn’t fail.
- Matt 13:35that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through the prophet, saying, “I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things hidden from the foundation of the world.”
- Eph 3:5which in other generations was not made known to the children of men, as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets in the Spirit;
- Dan 2:28but there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets, and he has made known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days. Your dream, and the visions of your head on your bed, are these:
- Job 15:8Have you heard the secret counsel of God? Do you limit wisdom to yourself?
- Rom 16:25–26—
- Ps 25:14The friendship of Yahweh is with those who fear him. He will show them his covenant.
- Job 9:4God who is wise in heart, and mighty in strength: who has hardened himself against him, and prospered?
- Deut 29:29The secret things belong to Yahweh our God; but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.
- Dan 2:47The king answered to Daniel, and said, Of a truth your God is the God of gods, and the Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, since you have been able to reveal this secret.
- Job 15:5For your iniquity teaches your mouth, and you choose the language of the crafty.
- Job 15:11Are the consolations of God too small for you, even the word that is gentle toward you?
- Ps 106:43–46He rescued them many times, but they were rebellious in their counsel, and were brought low in their iniquity.
- 1 Cor 2:9–11But as it is written, “Things which an eye didn’t see, and an ear didn’t hear, which didn’t enter into the heart of man, these God has prepared for those who love him.”
- Ps 103:10He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor repaid us for our iniquities.
- Job 28:28To man he said, ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom. To depart from evil is understanding.’”
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Christ at the center
Job's cry for a mediator who can lay his hand on both God and man, and his confidence that 'my Redeemer lives' and will stand on the earth, reaches forward to Jesus the living Redeemer.
How Job 11:6 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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