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“With Him are wisdom and strength, He has counsel and understanding.
Job 12:13 · New King James Version
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.
  • BSB Wisdom and strength belong to God; counsel and understanding are His.
  • 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 who is wise in heart, and mighty in strength: who has hardened himself against him, and prospered?
  • Job 36:5“Behold, God is mighty, and doesn’t despise anyone. He is mighty in strength of understanding.
  • Prov 2:6–7For Yahweh gives wisdom. Out of his mouth comes knowledge and understanding.
  • Job 28:20–28Where then does wisdom come from? Where is the place of understanding?
  • Jas 1:5But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach; and it will be given to him.
  • Ps 147:5Great is our Lord, and mighty in power. His understanding is infinite.
  • Prov 8:14Counsel and sound knowledge are mine. I have understanding and power.
  • Eph 1:11in whom also we were assigned an inheritance, having been foreordained according to the purpose of him who does all things after the counsel of his will;
  • Dan 2:20Daniel answered, Blessed be the name of God forever and ever; for wisdom and might are his.
  • Job 11:6that 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.
  • Col 2:3in whom are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge hidden.
  • Eph 1:8which he made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence,
  • Job 38:36Who has put wisdom in the inward parts? Or who has given understanding to the mind?
  • Isa 46:10I declare the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done. I say: My counsel will stand, and I will do all that I please.
  • Isa 40:13–14Who has directed Yahweh’s Spirit, or has taught him as his counselor?
  • Jer 10:12He has made the earth by his power. he has established the world by his wisdom, and by his understanding has he stretched out the heavens.
  • Rom 11:34“For 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 is the power of God and the wisdom of God.
  • Luke 21:15for I will give you a mouth and wisdom which all your adversaries will not be able to withstand or to contradict.
  • Job 12:16With him is strength and wisdom. The deceived and the deceiver are his.
  • Job 32:6–9Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite answered, “I am young, and you are very old; Therefore I held back, and didn’t dare show you my opinion.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (5)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Job videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Job 12:13YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on JobMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

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.