He opens their ears to correction and commands that they turn from iniquity.
Parallel translations
- WEB He also opens their ears to instruction, and commands that they return from iniquity.
- KJV He openeth also their ear to discipline, and commandeth that they return from iniquity.
- NKJV He also opens their ear to instruction, And commands that they turn from iniquity.
- NASB “He opens their ears to instruction, And commands that they return from injustice.
- NLT He gets their attention and commands that they turn from evil.
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 opens their ears to instruction and commands them to turn from iniquity. Affliction is paired with a summons to repent.
Overview
Elihu teaches that God uses suffering to open deaf ears to His correction and to call sinners back from iniquity. The image of opening the ear conveys God graciously enabling people to hear and heed (cf. Isa. 50:5). This reveals the merciful aim behind discipline and anticipates the gospel call to repentance and new life through the Spirit's work in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 21
- Matt 3:8Produce fruit, then, in keeping with repentance.
- Job 36:15God rescues the afflicted by their affliction and opens their ears in oppression.
- Isa 55:6–7Seek the LORD while He may be found; call on Him while He is near.
- Isa 48:17Thus says the LORD your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “I am the LORD your God, who teaches you for your benefit, who directs you in the way you should go.
- 2 Kgs 17:13Yet through all His prophets and seers, the LORD warned Israel and Judah, saying, “Turn from your wicked ways and keep My commandments and statutes, according to the entire Law that I commanded your fathers and delivered to you through My servants the prophets.”
- Prov 8:4–5“To you, O men, I call out, and my cry is to the sons of men.
- Isa 1:16–20Wash and cleanse yourselves. Remove your evil deeds from My sight. Stop doing evil!
- Isa 50:5The Lord GOD has opened My ears, and I have not been rebellious, nor have I turned back.
- Job 33:16–23He opens their ears and terrifies them with warnings
- Ps 40:6Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but my ears You have opened. Burnt offerings and sin offerings You did not require.
- Jer 4:3–4For this is what the LORD says to the men of Judah and Jerusalem: “Break up your unplowed ground, and do not sow among the thorns.
- Prov 1:22–23“How long, O simple ones, will you love your simple ways? How long will scoffers delight in their scorn and fools hate knowledge?
- Jer 7:3–7Thus says the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel: Correct your ways and deeds, and I will let you live in this place.
- Hos 14:1Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God, for you have stumbled by your iniquity.
- Ezek 18:30–31Therefore, O house of Israel, I will judge you, each according to his ways, declares the Lord GOD. Repent and turn from all your transgressions, so that your iniquity will not become your downfall.
- Acts 17:30Although God overlooked the ignorance of earlier times, He now commands all people everywhere to repent.
- Acts 3:19Repent, then, and turn back, so that your sins may be wiped away,
- Acts 16:14Among those listening was a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message.
- Isa 48:8You have never heard; you have never understood; for a long time your ears have not been open. For I knew how deceitful you are; you have been called a rebel from birth.
- Jas 4:8Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
- Prov 9:4–6“Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!” she says to him who lacks judgment.
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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 36:10 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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