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Why does your heart carry you away, And what do your eyes wink at,
Job 15:12 · New King James Version
Parallel translations
  • WEB Why does your heart carry you away? Why do your eyes flash,
  • KJV Why doth thine heart carry thee away? and what do thy eyes wink at,
  • BSB Why has your heart carried you away, and why do your eyes flash,
  • NASB “Why does your heart take you away? And why do your eyes wink,
  • NLT What has taken away your reason? What has weakened your vision,

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

Eliphaz asks why Job's passion and flashing eyes carry him away. He reads Job's emotion as rebellion.

Overview

Eliphaz questions why Job's heart 'carries him away' and his eyes 'flash' with intensity. He interprets Job's strong feeling as evidence of an unruly spirit. This misreads grief and earnest pleading as defiance, showing little compassion for a suffering man's anguish.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 9

  • Eccl 11:9Rejoice, young man, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth, and walk in the ways of your heart, and in the sight of your eyes; but know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment.
  • Mark 7:21–22For from within, out of the hearts of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, sexual sins, murders, thefts,
  • Ps 35:19Don’t let those who are my enemies wrongfully rejoice over me; neither let those who hate me without a cause wink their eyes.
  • Job 11:13“If you set your heart aright, stretch out your hands toward him.
  • Acts 5:3–4But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit, and to keep back part of the price of the land?
  • Jas 1:14–15But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own lust, and enticed.
  • Prov 6:13who winks with his eyes, who signals with his feet, who motions with his fingers;
  • Job 17:2Surely there are mockers with me. My eye dwells on their provocation.
  • Acts 8:22Repent therefore of this, your wickedness, and ask God if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (3)

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 15:12YouTube · 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 15:12 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.