“Have I put my trust in money or felt secure because of my gold?
Parallel translations
- WEB “If I have made gold my hope, and have said to the fine gold, ‘You are my confidence;’
- KJV If I have made gold my hope, or have said to the fine gold, Thou art my confidence;
- BSB If I have put my trust in gold or called pure gold my security,
- NKJV “IfI have made gold my hope, Or said to fine gold, ‘You are my confidence’;
- NASB ¶“If I have put my confidence in gold, And called fine gold my trust,
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 swears he never made gold his hope or called fine gold his confidence. He affirms that wealth was not his trust.
Overview
Job denies placing his security and hope in riches, refusing to treat gold as the ground of his confidence. This guards against the idolatry of wealth that Scripture repeatedly warns against. Jesus teaches that one cannot serve both God and money, so Job's refusal to trust riches anticipates the gospel call to lay up treasure in heaven and to trust God alone, who supplies all our needs in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Deut 8:12–14lest, when you have eaten and are full, and have built fine houses, and lived in them;
- Prov 11:28He who trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous shall flourish as the green leaf.
- Ps 49:6–7Those who trust in their wealth, and boast in the multitude of their riches —
- Ps 52:7“Behold, this is the man who didn’t make God his strength, but trusted in the abundance of his riches, and strengthened himself in his wickedness.”
- Ps 49:17for when he dies he will carry nothing away. His glory won’t descend after him.
- Prov 10:15The rich man’s wealth is his strong city. The destruction of the poor is their poverty.
- Prov 30:9lest I be full, deny you, and say, ‘Who is Yahweh?’ or lest I be poor, and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God.
- 1 Tim 6:10For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some have been led astray from the faith in their greed, and have pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
- 1 Tim 6:17Charge those who are rich in this present world that they not be haughty, nor have their hope set on the uncertainty of riches, but on the living God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy;
- Luke 12:15He said to them, “Beware! Keep yourselves from covetousness, for a man’s life doesn’t consist of the abundance of the things which he possesses.”
- Ps 62:10Don’t trust in oppression. Don’t become vain in robbery. If riches increase, don’t set your heart on them.
- Gen 31:1He heard the words of Laban’s sons, saying, “Jacob has taken away all that was our father’s. From that which was our father’s, has he gotten all this wealth.”
- Col 3:5Put to death therefore your members which are on the earth: sexual immorality, uncleanness, depraved passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry;
- Mark 10:24–25The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus answered again, “Children, how hard is it for those who trust in riches to enter into God’s Kingdom!
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 31:24 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.