Were you the first man ever born? Were you brought forth before the hills?
Parallel translations
- WEB “Are you the first man who was born? Or were you brought out before the hills?
- KJV Art thou the first man that was born? or wast thou made before the hills?
- NKJV “Are you the first man who was born? Or were you made before the hills?
- NASB ¶“Were you the first person to be born, Or were you brought forth before the hills?
- NLT “Were you the first person ever born? Were you born before the hills were made?
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 mocks Job, asking if he is the first, oldest man alive. He ridicules any claim to special wisdom.
Overview
Eliphaz sarcastically asks whether Job was 'the first man who was born' or brought forth before the hills, as if Job claimed primeval wisdom. The taunt aims to puncture what Eliphaz sees as Job's pride. Ironically, only God possesses the wisdom that precedes creation, a wisdom no mortal can claim.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Ps 90:2Before the mountains were born or You brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting You are God.
- Job 12:12Wisdom is found with the elderly, and understanding comes with long life.
- Prov 8:22–25The LORD created me as His first course, before His works of old.
- Job 38:4–41Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding.
- Job 15:10Both the gray-haired and the aged are on our side—men much older than your father.
- Gen 4:1And Adam had relations with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain. “With the help of the LORD I have brought forth a man,” she said.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Commentaries & study tools
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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 15:7 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.