Beware lest you say, ‘We have found wisdom, God may refute him, not man;’
Parallel translations
- KJV Lest ye should say, We have found out wisdom: God thrusteth him down, not man.
- BSB So do not claim, ‘We have found wisdom; let God, not man, refute him.’
- 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 9:23Yahweh says, “Don’t let the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might. Don’t let the rich man glory in his riches.
- 1 Cor 3:18Let no one deceive himself. If anyone thinks that he is wise among you in this world, let him become a fool, that he may become wise.
- 1 Cor 1:27–29but God chose the foolish things of the world that he might put to shame those who are wise. God chose the weak things of the world, that he might put to shame the things that are strong;
- Isa 5:21Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!
- Job 19:6know now that God has subverted me, and has surrounded me with his net.
- Job 12:2“No doubt, but you are the people, and wisdom shall die with you.
- Isa 48:5therefore I have declared it to you from of old; before it came to pass I showed it to you; lest you should say, ‘My idol has done them, and my engraved image, and my molten image, has commanded them.’
- Isa 48:7They are created now, and not from of old; and before today you didn’t hear them; lest you should say, ‘Behold, I knew them.’
- John 19:11Jesus answered, “You would have no power at all against me, unless it were given to you from above. Therefore he who delivered me to you has greater sin.”
- Job 6:4For the arrows of the Almighty are within me. My spirit drinks up their poison. The terrors of God set themselves in array against me.
- Job 15:8–10Have you heard the secret counsel of God? Do you limit wisdom to yourself?
- Job 1:21He said, “Naked I came out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return there. Yahweh gave, and Yahweh has taken away. Blessed be Yahweh’s name.”
- Job 2:10But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. What? Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?” In all this Job didn’t sin with his lips.
- Judg 7:2Yahweh said to Gideon, “The people who are with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel brag against me, saying, ‘My own hand has saved me.’
- Zech 12:7Yahweh also will save the tents of Judah first, that the glory of David’s house and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem not be magnified above Judah.
- 1 Cor 1:19–21For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, I will bring the discernment of the discerning to nothing.”
- Job 4:9By the breath of God they perish. By the blast of his anger are they consumed.
- Gen 14:23that I will not take a thread nor a sandal strap nor anything that is yours, lest you should say, ‘I have made Abram rich.’
- Ezek 28:3behold, you are wiser than Daniel; there is no secret that is hidden from you;
- Job 19:21“Have pity on me, have pity on me, you my friends; for the hand of God has touched me.
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 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.