“For I do not know how to flatter, Otherwise my Maker would quickly take me away.
Parallel translations
- WEB For I don’t know how to give flattering titles; or else my Maker would soon take me away.
- KJV For I know not to give flattering titles; in so doing my maker would soon take me away.
- BSB For I do not know how to flatter, or my Maker would remove me in an instant.
- NKJV For I do not know how to flatter, Else my Maker would soon take me away.
- NLT For if I tried flattery, my Creator would soon destroy 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
Aaron deflects blame, urging Moses not to be angry and pointing to the people's evil bent. He minimizes his own responsibility.
Overview
Aaron's response shifts fault onto the people's well-known sinfulness rather than owning his role. While his observation about the people is true, it functions as an excuse. The verse illustrates the human instinct, since Eden, to evade responsibility for sin rather than confess it.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 5
- Ps 12:2–3Everyone lies to his neighbor. They speak with flattering lips, and with a double heart.
- Prov 29:5A man who flatters his neighbor spreads a net for his feet.
- 1 Th 2:5For neither were we at any time found using words of flattery, as you know, nor a cloak of covetousness (God is witness),
- Job 17:5He who denounces his friends for plunder, Even the eyes of his children shall fail.
- Gal 1:10For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? For if I were still pleasing men, I wouldn’t be a servant of Christ.
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 32:22 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
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