Because he has reached out with his hand against God, And is arrogant toward the Almighty.
Parallel translations
- WEB Because he has stretched out his hand against God, and behaves himself proudly against the Almighty;
- KJV For he stretcheth out his hand against God, and strengtheneth himself against the Almighty.
- BSB For he has stretched out his hand against God and has vaunted himself against the Almighty,
- NKJV For he stretches out his hand against God, And acts defiantly against the Almighty,
- NLT For they shake their fists at God, defying the Almighty.
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
The wicked man's ruin is traced to his proud defiance of God and the Almighty. His suffering follows from rebellion against his Maker.
Overview
Eliphaz now names the root cause: the wicked stretches out his hand against God in arrogant resistance. This rightly identifies pride and rebellion as the heart of sin. The error is in implying Job has done this; in truth Job, though he questions God, never abandons his fear of him, and the gospel answers such rebellion not with mere doom but with a Savior who bore proud sinners' judgment.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 20
- Dan 5:23but have lifted up yourself against the Lord of heaven; and they have brought the vessels of his house before you, and you and your lords, your wives and your concubines, have drunk wine from them; and you have praised the gods of silver and gold, of brass, iron, wood, and stone, which don’t see, nor hear, nor know; and the God in whose hand your breath is, and whose are all your ways, you have not glorified.
- Ps 52:7“Behold, this is the man who didn’t make God his strength, but trusted in the abundance of his riches, and strengthened himself in his wickedness.”
- Ps 73:9They have set their mouth in the heavens. Their tongue walks through the earth.
- Job 9:4God who is wise in heart, and mighty in strength: who has hardened himself against him, and prospered?
- Job 36:9then he shows them their work, and their transgressions, that they have behaved themselves proudly.
- Ps 73:11They say, “How does God know? Is there knowledge in the Most High?”
- 1 Sam 6:6Why then do you harden your hearts, as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? When he had worked wonderfully among them, didn’t they let the people go, and they departed?
- Mal 3:13“Your words have been stout against me,” says Yahweh. “Yet you say, ‘What have we spoken against you?’
- 1 Sam 4:7–9The Philistines were afraid, for they said, “God has come into the camp.” They said, “Woe to us! For there has not been such a thing before.
- Isa 8:9–10Make an uproar, you peoples, and be broken in pieces! Listen, all you from far countries: dress for battle, and be shattered! Dress for battle, and be shattered!
- Exod 5:2–3Pharaoh said, “Who is Yahweh, that I should listen to his voice to let Israel go? I don’t know Yahweh, and moreover I will not let Israel go.”
- Lev 26:23“‘If by these things you won’t be reformed to me, but will walk contrary to me;
- Acts 9:5He said, “Who are you, Lord?” The Lord said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.
- Isa 10:12–14Therefore it will happen that, when the Lord has performed his whole work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the willful proud heart of the king of Assyria, and the insolence of his haughty looks.
- Acts 12:23Immediately an angel of the Lord struck him, because he didn’t give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and died.
- Acts 12:1Now about that time, King Herod stretched out his hands to oppress some of the assembly.
- Exod 9:17as you still exalt yourself against my people, that you won’t let them go.
- Isa 27:4Wrath is not in me, but if I should find briers and thorns, I would do battle! I would march on them and I would burn them together.
- Isa 41:4–7Who has worked and done it, calling the generations from the beginning? I, Yahweh, the first, and with the last, I am he.”
- Job 40:9–11Or do you have an arm like God? Can you thunder with a voice like him?
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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 15:25 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.