O that ye would altogether hold your peace! and it should be your wisdom.
Parallel translations
- WEB Oh that you would be completely silent! Then you would be wise.
- BSB If only you would remain silent; for that would 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, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise: and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding.
- Jas 1:19Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath:
- Job 13:13Hold your peace, let me alone, that I may speak, and let come on me what will.
- Eccl 5:3For a dream cometh through the multitude of business; and a fool’s voice is known by multitude of words.
- Job 19:2How long will ye vex my soul, and break me in pieces with words?
- Job 32:1So these three men ceased to answer Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes.
- Job 18:2How long will it be ere ye make an end of words? mark, and afterwards we will speak.
- Job 16:3Shall vain words have an end? or what emboldeneth thee that thou answerest?
- Job 11:3Should thy lies make men hold their peace? and when thou mockest, shall no man make thee ashamed?
- Job 21:2–3Hear diligently my speech, and let this be your consolations.
- Amos 5:13Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in that time; for it is an evil time.
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 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.