Therefore He knows their works; 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.
- BSB Therefore, He recognizes their deeds; 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 34:20In a moment they die, even at midnight. The people are shaken and pass away. The mighty are taken away without a hand.
- Hos 7:2They don’t consider in their hearts that I remember all their wickedness. Now their own deeds have engulfed them. They are before my face.
- Isa 15:1The burden of Moab: for in a night, Ar of Moab is laid waste, and brought to nothing; for in a night Kir of Moab is laid waste, and brought to nothing.
- Isa 66:18“For I know their works and their thoughts. The time comes that I will gather all nations and languages, and they will come, and will see my glory.
- 1 Th 5:2For you yourselves know well that the day of the Lord comes like a thief in the night.
- Amos 8:7Yahweh has sworn by the pride of Jacob, “Surely I will never forget any of their works.
- Ps 33:15he who fashions all of their hearts; and he considers all of their works.
- Song 3:8They all handle the sword, and are expert in war. Every man has his sword on his thigh, because of fear in the night.
- Rev 20:12I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and they opened books. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged out of the things which were written in the books, according to their works.
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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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