He disappointeth the devices of the crafty, so that their hands cannot perform their enterprise.
Parallel translations
- WEB He frustrates the devices of the crafty, So that their hands can’t perform their enterprise.
- BSB He thwarts the schemes of the crafty, so that their hands find no success.
- 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 21:11For they intended evil against thee: they imagined a mischievous device, which they are not able to perform.
- Ps 33:10–11The LORD bringeth the counsel of the heathen to nought: he maketh the devices of the people of none effect.
- Isa 8:10Take counsel together, and it shall come to nought; speak the word, and it shall not stand: for God is with us.
- Prov 21:30There is no wisdom nor understanding nor counsel against the LORD.
- Ps 37:17For the arms of the wicked shall be broken: but the LORD upholdeth the righteous.
- Acts 12:11And when Peter was come to himself, he said, Now I know of a surety, that the LORD hath sent his angel, and hath delivered me out of the hand of Herod, and from all the expectation of the people of the Jews.
- Isa 37:36Then the angel of the LORD went forth, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.
- Neh 4:15And it came to pass, when our enemies heard that it was known unto us, and God had brought their counsel to nought, that we returned all of us to the wall, every one unto his work.
- Job 12:16–17With him is strength and wisdom: the deceived and the deceiver are his.
- Acts 23:12–22And when it was day, certain of the Jews banded together, and bound themselves under a curse, saying that they would neither eat nor drink till they had killed Paul.
- Isa 19:3And the spirit of Egypt shall fail in the midst thereof; and I will destroy the counsel thereof: and they shall seek to the idols, and to the charmers, and to them that have familiar spirits, and to the wizards.
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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.