Why are we regarded as cattle, as stupid in your sight?
Parallel translations
- WEB Why are we counted as animals, which have become unclean in your sight?
- KJV Wherefore are we counted as beasts, and reputed vile in your sight?
- NKJV Why are we counted as beasts, And regarded as stupid in your sight?
- NASB “Why are we regarded as animals, As stupid in your eyes?
- NLT Do you think we are mere animals? Do you think we are stupid?
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
Bildad takes offense that Job seems to regard the friends as stupid, unclean animals. He resents Job's perceived contempt.
Overview
Bildad feels insulted, asking why he and the others are counted as senseless beasts in Job's eyes. His wounded pride shows how the friends are more defensive of their dignity than attentive to Job's pain. This self-focus contrasts with the humble, others-centered love Scripture commends, which does not insist on its own honor (1 Corinthians 13:5).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Ps 73:22I was senseless and ignorant; I was a brute beast before You.
- Job 17:4You have closed their minds to understanding; therefore You will not exalt them.
- Job 17:10But come back and try again, all of you. For I will not find a wise man among you.
- Rom 12:10Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Outdo yourselves in honoring one another.
- Eccl 3:18I said to myself, “As for the sons of men, God tests them so that they may see for themselves that they are but beasts.”
- Job 12:7–8But ask the animals, and they will instruct you; ask the birds of the air, and they will tell you.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
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 18:3 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.