“But I have intelligence as well as you; I am not inferior to you. And who does not know such things as these?
Parallel translations
- WEB But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you. Yes, who doesn’t know such things as these?
- KJV But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you: yea, who knoweth not such things as these?
- BSB But I also have a mind; I am not inferior to you. Who does not know such things as these?
- NKJV But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you. Indeed, who does not know such things as these?
- NLT Well, I know a few things myself— and you’re no better than I am. Who doesn’t know these things you’ve been saying?
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 insists he has understanding equal to theirs and is not inferior, for these truths are common knowledge. He refuses to be talked down to.
Overview
Job asserts that he is not their intellectual inferior and that what they say is obvious to everyone. He rejects their patronizing tone while preparing to expound God's greatness himself. His confidence shows that the suffering saint need not surrender his God-given understanding to false comforters (Job 13:2; Proverbs 14:6).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Job 13:2–5What you know, I know also. I am not inferior to you.
- Prov 26:4Don’t answer a fool according to his folly, lest you also be like him.
- 2 Cor 11:21–23I speak by way of disparagement, as though we had been weak. Yet in whatever way anyone is bold (I speak in foolishness), I am bold also.
- Job 6:6–7Can that which has no flavor be eaten without salt? Or is there any taste in the white of an egg?
- 2 Cor 11:5For I reckon that I am not at all behind the very best apostles.
- Job 26:2–3“How have you helped him who is without power! How have you saved the arm that has no strength!
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 12:3 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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