If only you would remain silent; for that would be your wisdom!
Parallel translations
- WEB Oh that you would be completely silent! Then you would be wise.
- KJV O that ye would altogether hold your peace! and it should be your wisdom.
- NKJV Oh, that you would be silent, And it would be your wisdom!
- NASB “Oh that you would be completely silent, And that it would become your wisdom!
- NLT If only you could be silent! That’s the wisest thing you could do.
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 wishes his friends would simply be silent. Their silence would be wiser than their words.
Overview
With sharp irony Job says, 'Oh that you would be completely silent! Then you would be wise.' Proverbs teaches that even a fool is counted wise when he holds his tongue. Job's friends have damaged their case by speaking; restraint would have served them, and him, far better.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Prov 17:28Even a fool is considered wise if he keeps silent, and discerning when he holds his tongue.
- Jas 1:19My beloved brothers, understand this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger,
- Job 13:13Be silent, and I will speak. Then let come to me what may.
- Eccl 5:3As a dream comes through many cares, so the speech of a fool comes with many words.
- Job 19:2“How long will you torment me and crush me with your words?
- Job 32:1So these three men stopped answering Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes.
- Job 18:2“How long until you end these speeches? Show some sense, and then we can talk.
- Job 16:3Is there no end to your long-winded speeches? What provokes you to continue testifying?
- Job 11:3Should your babbling put others to silence? Will you scoff without rebuke?
- Job 21:2–3“Listen carefully to my words; let this be your consolation to me.
- Amos 5:13Therefore, the prudent keep silent in such times, for the days are evil.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
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 13:5 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.