“Do you hear the secret discussion of God, And limit wisdom to yourself?
Parallel translations
- WEB Have you heard the secret counsel of God? Do you limit wisdom to yourself?
- KJV Hast thou heard the secret of God? and dost thou restrain wisdom to thyself?
- BSB Do you listen in on the council of God or limit wisdom to yourself?
- NKJV Have you heard the counsel of God? Do you limit wisdom to yourself?
- NLT Were you listening at God’s secret council? Do you have a monopoly on wisdom?
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 if Job has eavesdropped on God's secret council. He denies Job any monopoly on wisdom.
Overview
Eliphaz challenges whether Job has heard 'the secret counsel of God' or limits wisdom to himself. He accuses Job of presuming access to divine secrets. The deeper irony is that true wisdom belongs to God alone, and humility before that wisdom, not Eliphaz's confident accusations, is what both men ultimately need.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 17
- Rom 11:34“For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?”
- Jer 23:18For who has stood in the council of Yahweh, that he should perceive and hear his word? Who has listend to my word, and heard it?
- 1 Cor 2:16“For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he should instruct him?” But we have Christ’s mind.
- Job 11:6that he would show you the secrets of wisdom! For true wisdom has two sides. Know therefore that God exacts of you less than your iniquity deserves.
- Prov 3:32For the perverse is an abomination to Yahweh, but his friendship is with the upright.
- 1 Cor 2:9–11But as it is written, “Things which an eye didn’t see, and an ear didn’t hear, which didn’t enter into the heart of man, these God has prepared for those who love him.”
- Deut 29:29The secret things belong to Yahweh our God; but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.
- Job 13:5–6Oh that you would be completely silent! Then you would be wise.
- Rom 16:25–26—
- Matt 11:25At that time, Jesus answered, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you hid these things from the wise and understanding, and revealed them to infants.
- Job 29:4as I was in the ripeness of my days, when the friendship of God was in my tent,
- Matt 13:11He answered them, “To you it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven, but it is not given to them.
- Job 12:2“No doubt, but you are the people, and wisdom shall die with you.
- Matt 13:35that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through the prophet, saying, “I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things hidden from the foundation of the world.”
- Amos 3:7Surely the Lord Yahweh will do nothing, unless he reveals his secret to his servants the prophets.
- Ps 25:14The friendship of Yahweh is with those who fear him. He will show them his covenant.
- John 15:15No longer do I call you servants, for the servant doesn’t know what his lord does. But I have called you friends, for everything that I heard from my Father, I have made known to you.
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 15:8 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
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