“Let him not trust in emptiness, deceiving himself; For his reward will be emptiness.
Parallel translations
- WEB Let him not trust in emptiness, deceiving himself; for emptiness shall be his reward.
- KJV Let not him that is deceived trust in vanity: for vanity shall be his recompence.
- BSB Let him not deceive himself with trust in emptiness, for emptiness will be his reward.
- NKJV Let him not trust in futile things, deceiving himself, For futility will be his reward.
- NLT Let them no longer fool themselves by trusting in empty riches, for emptiness will be their only reward.
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 warns against trusting in emptiness, for emptiness will be the deceived man's only reward. Self-deception leads to hollow ruin.
Overview
He cautions that the wicked who relies on vanity deceives himself and reaps nothing but vanity. This is genuine wisdom: trusting in what is empty yields emptiness (Jeremiah 2:5). The verse rightly exposes the folly of false confidence, even as it wrongly insinuates that Job's faith rests on such empty ground rather than on the living God.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Isa 59:4No one sues in righteousness, and no one pleads in truth. They trust in vanity, and speak lies. They conceive mischief, and give birth to iniquity.
- Gal 6:3For if a man thinks himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.
- Ps 62:10Don’t trust in oppression. Don’t become vain in robbery. If riches increase, don’t set your heart on them.
- Hos 8:7For they sow the wind, and they will reap the whirlwind. He has no standing grain. The stalk will yield no head. If it does yield, strangers will swallow it up.
- Gal 6:7–8Don’t be deceived. God is not mocked, for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.
- Job 12:16With him is strength and wisdom. The deceived and the deceiver are his.
- Eph 5:6Let no one deceive you with empty words. For because of these things, the wrath of God comes on the children of disobedience.
- Jonah 2:8Those who regard lying vanities forsake their own mercy.
- Job 4:8According to what I have seen, those who plow iniquity, and sow trouble, reap the same.
- Prov 22:8He who sows wickedness reaps trouble, and the rod of his fury will be destroyed.
- Isa 44:20He feeds on ashes. A deceived heart has turned him aside; and he can’t deliver his soul, nor say, “Isn’t there a lie in my right hand?”
- Isa 17:10–11For you have forgotten the God of your salvation, and have not remembered the rock of your strength. Therefore you plant pleasant plants, and set out foreign seedlings.
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 15:31 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.