Therefore, He recognizes their deeds; He overthrows them in the night and they are crushed.
Parallel translations
- WEB Therefore he takes knowledge of their works. He overturns them in the night, so that they are destroyed.
- KJV Therefore he knoweth their works, and he overturneth them in the night, so that they are destroyed.
- NKJV Therefore He knows their works; He overthrows them in the night, And they are crushed.
- NASB “Therefore He knows their deeds, And He overthrows them in the night, And they are crushed.
- NLT He knows what they do, and in the night he overturns and destroys them.
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
Because God knows their deeds, He overthrows the wicked suddenly and destroys them. It affirms that God's judgment is based on full knowledge.
Overview
Elihu teaches that God takes full account of people's works and, knowing them, overturns the guilty 'in the night' so that they are destroyed. Divine judgment flows directly from God's perfect knowledge of human conduct. This warns against presuming on God's patience and points to the certainty of a final judgment, from which only those in Christ are secure.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Job 34:20They die in an instant, in the middle of the night. The people convulse and pass away; the mighty are removed without human hand.
- Hos 7:2But they fail to consider in their hearts that I remember all their evil. Now their deeds are all around them; they are before My face.
- Isa 15:1This is the burden against Moab: Ar in Moab is ruined, destroyed in a night! Kir in Moab is devastated, destroyed in a night!
- Isa 66:18“And I, knowing their deeds and thoughts, am coming to gather all nations and tongues, and they will come and see My glory.
- 1 Th 5:2For you are fully aware that the Day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.
- Amos 8:7The LORD has sworn by the Pride of Jacob: “I will never forget any of their deeds.
- Ps 33:15He shapes the hearts of each; He considers all their works.
- Song 3:8All are skilled with the sword, experienced in warfare. Each has his sword at his side prepared for the terror of the night.
- Rev 20:12And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne. And there were open books, and one of them was the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their deeds, as recorded in the books.
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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 34:25 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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