But watch out, or you may be seduced by wealth. Don’t let yourself be bribed into sin.
Parallel translations
- WEB Don’t let riches entice you to wrath, neither let the great size of a bribe turn you aside.
- KJV Because there is wrath, beware lest he take thee away with his stroke: then a great ransom cannot deliver thee.
- BSB Be careful that no one lures you with riches; do not let a large bribe lead you astray.
- NKJV Because there is wrath, beware lest He take you away with one blow; For a large ransom would not help you avoid it.
- NASB “Beware that wrath does not entice you to mockery; And do not let the greatness of the ransom turn you aside.
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
Elihu warns Job not to let riches entice him to wrath or a large bribe turn him aside. He cautions against being corrupted in suffering.
Overview
Elihu urges Job to beware lest anger or the lure of wealth and bribes lead him astray under pressure. The warning guards against letting affliction tempt one into bitterness or compromise. Scripture consistently warns that the love of money and unchecked anger corrupt the heart (1 Tim. 6:10; Eph. 4:26-27), calling instead for the integrity that the Spirit cultivates in Christ's followers.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Job 33:24then God is gracious to him, and says, ‘Deliver him from going down to the pit, I have found a ransom.’
- Eph 5:6Let no one deceive you with empty words. For because of these things, the wrath of God comes on the children of disobedience.
- Rom 1:18For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,
- Rom 2:5But according to your hardness and unrepentant heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath, revelation, and of the righteous judgment of God;
- Ps 49:7–8none of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give God a ransom for him.
- Ps 110:5The Lord is at your right hand. He will crush kings in the day of his wrath.
- Ps 2:5Then he will speak to them in his anger, and terrify them in his wrath:
- 1 Tim 2:6who gave himself as a ransom for all; the testimony in its own times;
- Ps 39:10Remove your scourge away from me. I am overcome by the blow of your hand.
- Isa 14:6who struck the peoples in wrath with a continual stroke, who ruled the nations in anger, with a persecution that no one restrained.
- Ps 2:12Give sincere homage to the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish on the way, for his wrath will soon be kindled. Blessed are all those who take refuge in him.
- Matt 3:7But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for his baptism, he said to them, “You offspring of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
- Heb 2:3how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation — which at the first having been spoken through the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard;
- Ezek 24:16Son of man, behold, I will take away from you the desire of your eyes with a stroke: yet you shall neither mourn nor weep, neither shall your tears run down.
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 36:18 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.