Wisdom and strength belong to God; counsel and understanding are His.
Parallel translations
- WEB “With God is wisdom and might. He has counsel and understanding.
- KJV With him is wisdom and strength, he hath counsel and understanding.
- NKJV “With Him are wisdom and strength, He has counsel and understanding.
- NASB ¶“Wisdom and might are with Him; Advice and understanding belong to Him.
- NLT “But true wisdom and power are found in God; counsel and understanding are his.
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
Job declares that with God are wisdom, might, counsel, and understanding. He locates true and complete wisdom in God alone.
Overview
Turning from human wisdom, Job confesses that perfect wisdom, power, counsel, and understanding belong to God. This anchors the great hymn to God's sovereignty that follows. These very attributes are gathered up in Christ, who is called the wisdom and power of God and in whom all wisdom's treasures are hidden (1 Corinthians 1:24; Colossians 2:3).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 21
- Job 9:4God is wise in heart and mighty in strength. Who has resisted Him and prospered?
- Job 36:5Indeed, God is mighty, but He despises no one; He is mighty in strength of understanding.
- Prov 2:6–7For the LORD gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding.
- Job 28:20–28From where then does wisdom come, and where does understanding dwell?
- Jas 1:5Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.
- Ps 147:5Great is our Lord, and mighty in power; His understanding has no limit.
- Prov 8:14Counsel and sound judgment are mine; I have insight and strength.
- Eph 1:11In Him we were also chosen as God’s own, having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything by the counsel of His will,
- Dan 2:20and declared: “Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, for wisdom and power belong to Him.
- Job 11:6and 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.
- Col 2:3in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
- Eph 1:8that He lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.
- Job 38:36Who has put wisdom in the heart or given understanding to the mind?
- Isa 46:10I declare the end from the beginning, and ancient times from what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and all My good pleasure I will accomplish.’
- Isa 40:13–14Who has directed the Spirit of the LORD, or informed Him as His counselor?
- Jer 10:12The LORD made the earth by His power; He established the world by His wisdom and stretched out the heavens by His understanding.
- Rom 11:34“Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been His counselor?”
- 1 Cor 1:24but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
- Luke 21:15For I will give you speech and wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to resist or contradict.
- Job 12:16True wisdom and power belong to Him. The deceived and the deceiver are His.
- Job 32:6–9So Elihu son of Barachel the Buzite declared: “I am young in years, while you are old; that is why I was timid and afraid to tell you what I know.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 12:13 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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.