That the hypocrite reign not, lest the people be ensnared.
Parallel translations
- WEB that the godless man may not reign, that there be no one to ensnare the people.
- BSB that godless men should not rule or lay snares for the people.
- NKJV That the hypocrite should not reign, Lest the people be ensnared.
- NASB “So that godless people would not rule, Nor be snares for the people.
- NLT He prevents the godless from ruling so they cannot be a snare to the people.
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
God's sovereign rule restrains godless rulers so they cannot ensnare and oppress the people. His justice protects communities from tyranny.
Overview
Elihu explains the purpose behind God's governance: to prevent the godless from reigning and trapping the people in their snares. This reflects the biblical conviction that God raises up and removes rulers (Dan. 2:21) for the good of His people. It points forward to the righteous reign of Christ, the King who delivers His people from every oppressor.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Prov 29:2–12When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn.
- 2 Kgs 21:9But they hearkened not: and Manasseh seduced them to do more evil than did the nations whom the LORD destroyed before the children of Israel.
- Mic 6:16For the statutes of Omri are kept, and all the works of the house of Ahab, and ye walk in their counsels; that I should make thee a desolation, and the inhabitants thereof an hissing: therefore ye shall bear the reproach of my people.
- Rev 13:3–4And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.
- Rev 13:11–14And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.
- Hos 13:11I gave thee a king in mine anger, and took him away in my wrath.
- Job 34:21For his eyes are upon the ways of man, and he seeth all his goings.
- 1 Kgs 12:28–30Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold, and said unto them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.
- Ps 12:8The wicked walk on every side, when the vilest men are exalted.
- 2 Th 2:4–11Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
- Hos 5:11Ephraim is oppressed and broken in judgment, because he willingly walked after the commandment.
- Eccl 9:18Wisdom is better than weapons of war: but one sinner destroyeth much good.
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 34:30 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.