“Behold, I know your thoughts, the devices with which you would wrong me.
Parallel translations
- KJV Behold, I know your thoughts, and the devices which ye wrongfully imagine against me.
- BSB Behold, I know your thoughts full well, the schemes by which you would wrong 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 5:22But Jesus, perceiving their thoughts, answered them, “Why are you reasoning so in your hearts?
- Ps 119:86All of your commandments are faithful. They persecute me wrongfully. Help me!
- Ps 59:4I have done no wrong, yet they are ready to attack me. Rise up, behold, and help me!
- 1 Pet 2:19For it is commendable if someone endures pain, suffering unjustly, because of conscience toward God.
- Job 20:5that the triumphing of the wicked is short, the joy of the godless but for a moment?
- Job 32:3Also his wrath was kindled against his three friends, because they had found no answer, and yet had condemned Job.
- Job 8:3–6Does God pervert justice? Or does the Almighty pervert righteousness?
- Job 20:29This is the portion of a wicked man from God, the heritage appointed to him by God.”
- Job 5:3–5I have seen the foolish taking root, but suddenly I cursed his habitation.
- Job 15:20–35the wicked man writhes in pain all his days, even the number of years that are laid up for the oppressor.
- Job 42:7It was so, that after Yahweh had spoken these words to Job, Yahweh said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is kindled against you, and against your two friends; for you have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job has.
- Job 4:8–11According to what I have seen, those who plow iniquity, and sow trouble, reap the same.
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 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.