He thwarts the schemes of the crafty, so that their hands find no success.
Parallel translations
- WEB He frustrates the devices of the crafty, So that their hands can’t perform their enterprise.
- KJV He disappointeth the devices of the crafty, so that their hands cannot perform their enterprise.
- NKJV He frustrates the devices of the crafty, So that their hands cannot carry out their plans.
- NASB “He frustrates the schemes of the shrewd, So that their hands cannot attain success.
- NLT He frustrates the plans of schemers so the work of their hands will not succeed.
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 frustrates the schemes of the crafty so their hands accomplish nothing. It affirms that he overrules and defeats human cunning.
Overview
Eliphaz celebrates God's power to thwart the plots of the clever, leaving their plans unfulfilled. The truth that God overturns the designs of the wicked runs throughout Scripture. Supremely, the cross shows it, for the schemes of those who crucified Christ were turned by God into the very means of salvation, demonstrating how he frustrates evil counsel for his redemptive purpose.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Ps 21:11Though they intend You harm, the schemes they devise will not prevail.
- Ps 33:10–11The LORD frustrates the plans of the nations; He thwarts the devices of the peoples.
- Isa 8:10Devise a plan, but it will be thwarted; state a proposal, but it will not happen. For God is with us.”
- Prov 21:30There is no wisdom, no understanding, no counsel that can prevail against the LORD.
- Ps 37:17For the arms of the wicked will be broken, but the LORD upholds the righteous.
- Acts 12:11Then Peter came to himself and said, “Now I know for sure that the Lord has sent His angel and rescued me from Herod’s grasp and from everything the Jewish people were anticipating.”
- Isa 37:36Then the angel of the LORD went out and struck down 185,000 men in the camp of the Assyrians. When the people got up the next morning, there were all the dead bodies!
- Neh 4:15When our enemies heard that we were aware of their scheme and that God had frustrated it, each of us returned to his own work on the wall.
- Job 12:16–17True wisdom and power belong to Him. The deceived and the deceiver are His.
- Acts 23:12–22When daylight came, the Jews formed a conspiracy and bound themselves with an oath not to eat or drink until they had killed Paul.
- Isa 19:3Then the spirit of the Egyptians will be emptied out from among them, and I will frustrate their plans, so that they will resort to idols and spirits of the dead, to mediums and spiritists.
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 5:12 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.