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But ye are forgers of lies, ye are all physicians of no value.
Job 13:4 · King James Version
Parallel translations
  • WEB But you are forgers of lies. You are all physicians of no value.
  • BSB You, however, smear with lies; you are all worthless physicians.
  • NKJV But you forgers of lies, You are all worthless physicians.
  • NASB “But you smear me with lies; You are all worthless physicians.
  • NLT As for you, you smear me with lies. As physicians, you are worthless quacks.

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 accuses his friends of inventing falsehoods and offering worthless cures. Their counsel only deepens his wound.

Overview

Job calls his friends 'forgers of lies' and 'physicians of no value.' They have whitewashed his situation with false explanations and prescribed remedies that heal nothing. True comfort cannot rest on misrepresenting God or twisting the facts of a sufferer's life, a warning to all who would counsel the afflicted.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 19

  • Ps 119:69The proud have forged a lie against me: but I will keep thy precepts with my whole heart.
  • Jer 6:14They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.
  • Jer 8:22Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there? why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?
  • Jer 23:32Behold, I am against them that prophesy false dreams, saith the LORD, and do tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies, and by their lightness; yet I sent them not, nor commanded them: therefore they shall not profit this people at all, saith the LORD.
  • Mark 5:26And had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse,
  • Job 16:2I have heard many such things: miserable comforters are ye all.
  • Jer 46:11Go up into Gilead, and take balm, O virgin, the daughter of Egypt: in vain shalt thou use many medicines; for thou shalt not be cured.
  • Hos 5:13When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah saw his wound, then went Ephraim to the Assyrian, and sent to king Jareb: yet could he not heal you, nor cure you of your wound.
  • Ezek 34:4The diseased have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that which was broken, neither have ye brought again that which was driven away, neither have ye sought that which was lost; but with force and with cruelty have ye ruled them.
  • Jer 30:13There is none to plead thy cause, that thou mayest be bound up: thou hast no healing medicines.
  • Mark 2:17When Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
  • Job 4:7–11Remember, I pray thee, who ever perished, being innocent? or where were the righteous cut off?
  • Job 22:6–30For thou hast taken a pledge from thy brother for nought, and stripped the naked of their clothing.
  • Job 5:1–5Call now, if there be any that will answer thee; and to which of the saints wilt thou turn?
  • Job 6:21For now ye are nothing; ye see my casting down, and are afraid.
  • Job 21:27–34Behold, I know your thoughts, and the devices which ye wrongfully imagine against me.
  • Job 18:5–21Yea, the light of the wicked shall be put out, and the spark of his fire shall not shine.
  • Job 8:3–4Doth God pervert judgment? or doth the Almighty pervert justice?
  • Exod 20:16Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (2)

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 13:4YouTube · 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 13:4 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.