“According to what I have seen, those who plow wrongdoing And those who sow trouble harvest it.
Parallel translations
- WEB According to what I have seen, those who plow iniquity, and sow trouble, reap the same.
- KJV Even as I have seen, they that plow iniquity, and sow wickedness, reap the same.
- BSB As I have observed, those who plow iniquity and those who sow trouble reap the same.
- NKJV Even as I have seen, Those who plow iniquity And sow trouble reap the same.
- NLT My experience shows that those who plant trouble and cultivate evil will harvest the same.
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
Eliphaz asserts that those who sow trouble reap it. He insists suffering reflects one's wrongdoing.
Overview
Drawing on observation, Eliphaz claims that people who plow iniquity harvest the same, applying a sowing-and-reaping logic to Job's plight. While there is truth that sin has consequences, his blanket application wrongly assumes Job's suffering proves his sin. The book corrects this oversimplified view of how God governs the righteous and the wicked.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Gal 6:7–8Don’t be deceived. God is not mocked, for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.
- Prov 22:8He who sows wickedness reaps trouble, and the rod of his fury will be destroyed.
- Hos 8:7For they sow the wind, and they will reap the whirlwind. He has no standing grain. The stalk will yield no head. If it does yield, strangers will swallow it up.
- Hos 10:12–13Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap according to kindness. Break up your fallow ground; for it is time to seek Yahweh, until he comes and rains righteousness on you.
- Job 15:35They conceive mischief, and produce iniquity. Their heart prepares deceit.”
- Jer 4:18“Your way and your doings have brought these things to you. This is your wickedness; for it is bitter, for it reaches to your heart.”
- 2 Cor 9:6Remember this: he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly. He who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully.
- Ps 7:14–16Behold, he travails with iniquity. Yes, he has conceived mischief, and brought out falsehood.
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 4:8 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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