Behold, I know your thoughts full well, the schemes by which you would wrong me.
Parallel translations
- WEB “Behold, I know your thoughts, the devices with which you would wrong me.
- KJV Behold, I know your thoughts, and the devices which ye wrongfully imagine against me.
- NKJV “Look, I know your thoughts, And the schemes with which you would wrong me.
- NASB ¶“Behold, I know your thoughts, And the plots you devise against me.
- NLT “Look, I know what you’re thinking. I know the schemes you plot against me.
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
Job tells his friends he knows exactly what they are thinking and the schemes by which they would condemn him. He sees through their accusations.
Overview
Job perceives that his friends are inwardly convinced of his guilt and are looking for ways to prove it. He names their unspoken assumptions directly. This honesty exposes how easily we wrong sufferers by reading their pain as evidence of secret sin, a temptation against which Job's friends serve as a sober warning.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Luke 5:22Knowing what they were thinking, Jesus replied, “Why are you thinking these things in your hearts?
- Ps 119:86All Your commandments are faithful; I am persecuted without cause—help me!
- Ps 59:4For no fault of my own, they move swiftly to attack me. Arise to help me, and take notice.
- 1 Pet 2:19For if anyone endures the pain of unjust suffering because he is conscious of God, this is to be commended.
- Job 20:5the triumph of the wicked has been brief and the joy of the godless momentary?
- Job 32:3and he burned with anger against Job’s three friends because they had failed to refute Job, and yet had condemned him.
- Job 8:3–6Does God pervert justice? Does the Almighty pervert what is right?
- Job 20:29This is the wicked man’s portion from God, the inheritance God has appointed him.”
- Job 5:3–5I have seen a fool taking root, but suddenly his house was cursed.
- Job 15:20–35A wicked man writhes in pain all his days; only a few years are reserved for the ruthless.
- Job 42:7After the LORD had spoken these words to Job, He said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is kindled against you and your two friends. For you have not spoken about Me accurately, as My servant Job has.
- Job 4:8–11As I have observed, those who plow iniquity and those who sow trouble reap the same.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
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 21:27 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.