Behold, I know your thoughts, and the devices which ye wrongfully imagine against me.
Parallel translations
- WEB “Behold, I know your thoughts, the devices with which you would wrong 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 when Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answering said unto them, What reason ye in your hearts?
- Ps 119:86All thy commandments are faithful: they persecute me wrongfully; help thou me.
- Ps 59:4They run and prepare themselves without my fault: awake to help me, and behold.
- 1 Pet 2:19For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully.
- Job 20:5That the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment?
- Job 32:3Also against his three friends was his wrath kindled, because they had found no answer, and yet had condemned Job.
- Job 8:3–6Doth God pervert judgment? or doth the Almighty pervert justice?
- Job 20:29This is the portion of a wicked man from God, and the heritage appointed unto 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 travaileth with pain all his days, and the number of years is hidden to the oppressor.
- Job 42:7And it was so, that after the LORD had spoken these words unto Job, the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite, My wrath is kindled against thee, and against thy two friends: for ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job hath.
- Job 4:8–11Even as I have seen, they that plow iniquity, and sow wickedness, reap the same.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Commentaries & study tools
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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 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.