who teaches us more than the beasts of the earth and makes us wiser than the birds of the air?’
Parallel translations
- WEB who teaches us more than the animals of the earth, and makes us wiser than the birds of the sky?’
- KJV Who teacheth us more than the beasts of the earth, and maketh us wiser than the fowls of heaven?
- NKJV Who teaches us more than the beasts of the earth, And makes us wiser than the birds of heaven?’
- NASB Who teaches us more than the animals of the earth And makes us wiser than the birds of the sky?’
- NLT Where is the one who makes us smarter than the animals and wiser than the birds of the sky?’
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 teaches us more than the animals and makes us wiser than the birds. Human dignity and wisdom are gifts from our Maker.
Overview
Continuing his portrait of God as Maker, Elihu notes that God endows humanity with understanding surpassing the beasts of the earth and birds of the sky. This reflects the unique image of God in man (Gen. 1:26-27). It reinforces the call to seek God, for the One who gave us reason and wisdom is the proper object of our trust, fully revealed in Christ, the wisdom of God.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 5
- Ps 94:12Blessed is the man You discipline, O LORD, and teach from Your law,
- Job 36:22Behold, God is exalted in His power. Who is a teacher like Him?
- Job 32:8But there is a spirit in a man, the breath of the Almighty, that gives him understanding.
- Gen 1:26Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness, to rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, and over all the earth itself and every creature that crawls upon it.”
- Gen 2:7Then the LORD God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and the man became a living being.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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 35:11 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.