He takes the wise in their own craftiness; the counsel of the cunning is carried headlong.
Parallel translations
- KJV He taketh the wise in their own craftiness: and the counsel of the froward is carried headlong.
- BSB He catches the wise in their craftiness, and sweeps away the plans of the cunning.
- NKJV He catches the wise in their own craftiness, And the counsel of the cunning comes quickly upon them.
- NASB “He captures the wise by their own cleverness, And the advice of the cunning is quickly thwarted.
- NLT He traps the wise in their own cleverness so their cunning schemes are thwarted.
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 catches the wise in their own craftiness and sweeps away the schemes of the cunning. It shows that human cleverness is no match for divine wisdom.
Overview
Eliphaz declares that God ensnares the worldly-wise in their own trickery. This line is so apt that Paul quotes it in First Corinthians to humble human wisdom before the wisdom of God. The cross, foolishness to the world, is the place where God most decisively takes the wise in their craftiness and confounds the strong, vindicating his own surprising wisdom.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Ps 9:15–16The nations have sunk down in the pit that they made. In the net which they hid, their own foot is taken.
- 1 Cor 3:19For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, “He has taken the wise in their craftiness.”
- Ps 7:15–16He has dug a hole, and has fallen into the pit which he made.
- Luke 1:51He has shown strength with his arm. He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
- 1 Cor 1:19–20For it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, I will bring the discernment of the discerning to nothing.”
- Ps 18:26With the pure, you will show yourself pure. With the crooked you will show yourself shrewd.
- Esth 9:25but when this became known to the king, he commanded by letters that his wicked device, which he had devised against the Jews, should return on his own head, and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows.
- Ps 35:7–8For without cause they have hidden their net in a pit for me. Without cause they have dug a pit for my soul.
- Esth 7:10So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then was the king’s wrath pacified.
- 2 Sam 15:31Someone told David, saying, “Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom.” David said, “Yahweh, please turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness.”
- Prov 3:32For the perverse is an abomination to Yahweh, but his friendship is with the upright.
- Esth 6:4–11The king said, “Who is in the court?” Now Haman had come into the outer court of the king’s house, to speak to the king about hanging Mordecai on the gallows that he had prepared for him.
- 2 Sam 17:23When Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled his donkey, arose, and went home, to his city, and set his house in order, and hanged himself; and he died, and was buried in the tomb of his father.
- 2 Sam 15:34but if you return to the city, and tell Absalom, ‘I will be your servant, O king. As I have been your father’s servant in time past, so will I now be your servant; then will you defeat for me the counsel of Ahithophel.’
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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 5:13 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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