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So do not claim, ‘We have found wisdom; let God, not man, refute him.’
Job 32:13 · Berean Standard Bible
Parallel translations
  • WEB Beware lest you say, ‘We have found wisdom, God may refute him, not man;’
  • KJV Lest ye should say, We have found out wisdom: God thrusteth him down, not man.
  • NKJV Lest you say, ‘We have found wisdom’; God will vanquish him, not man.
  • NASB “So do not say, ‘We have found wisdom: God will defeat him, not man.’
  • NLT And don’t tell me, ‘He is too wise for us. Only God can convince him.’

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

Moses appeals to God's sworn promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Israel. He anchors his plea in the unbreakable covenant.

Overview

Moses moves from God's glory to God's covenant oath, reminding Him of the promise of offspring and land sworn by God's own self. Because God cannot deny Himself, this is the strongest possible ground for mercy. The episode shows that God's faithfulness to His promises, ultimately fulfilled in Christ the true offspring (Galatians 3:16), is the basis of His people's security.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 20

  • Jer 9:23This is what the LORD says: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, nor the strong man in his strength, nor the wealthy man in his riches.
  • 1 Cor 3:18Let no one deceive himself. If any of you thinks he is wise in this age, he should become a fool, so that he may become wise.
  • 1 Cor 1:27–29But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.
  • Isa 5:21Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight.
  • Job 19:6then understand that it is God who has wronged me and drawn His net around me.
  • Job 12:2“Truly then you are the people with whom wisdom itself will die!
  • Isa 48:5Therefore I declared it to you long ago; I announced it before it came to pass, so that you could not claim, ‘My idol has done this; my carved image and molten god has ordained it.’
  • Isa 48:7They are created now, and not long ago; you have not heard of them before today. So you cannot claim, ‘I already knew them!’
  • John 19:11Jesus answered, “You would have no authority over Me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed Me over to you is guilty of greater sin.”
  • Job 6:4For the arrows of the Almighty have pierced me; my spirit drinks in their poison; the terrors of God are arrayed against me.
  • Job 15:8–10Do you listen in on the council of God or limit wisdom to yourself?
  • Job 1:21saying: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the LORD.”
  • Job 2:10“You speak as a foolish woman speaks,” he told her. “Should we accept from God only good and not adversity?” In all this, Job did not sin in what he said.
  • Judg 7:2Then the LORD said to Gideon, “You have too many people for Me to deliver Midian into their hands, lest Israel glorify themselves over Me, saying, ‘My own hand has saved me.’
  • Zech 12:7The LORD will save the tents of Judah first, so that the glory of the house of David and of the people of Jerusalem may not be greater than that of Judah.
  • 1 Cor 1:19–21For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”
  • Job 4:9By the breath of God they perish, and by the blast of His anger they are consumed.
  • Gen 14:23that I will not accept even a thread, or a strap of a sandal, or anything that belongs to you, lest you should say, ‘I have made Abram rich.’
  • Ezek 28:3Behold, you are wiser than Daniel; no secret is hidden from you!
  • Job 19:21Have pity on me, my friends, have pity, for the hand of God has struck me.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (1)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Job videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Job 32:13YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on JobMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    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 32:13 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.