He catches the wise in their craftiness, and sweeps away the plans of the cunning.
Parallel translations
- WEB He takes the wise in their own craftiness; the counsel of the cunning is carried headlong.
- KJV He taketh the wise in their own craftiness: and the counsel of the froward is carried headlong.
- 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 fallen into a pit of their making; their feet are caught in the net they have hidden.
- 1 Cor 3:19For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written: “He catches the wise in their craftiness.”
- Ps 7:15–16He has dug a hole and hollowed it out; he has fallen into a pit of his own making.
- Luke 1:51He has performed mighty deeds with His arm; He has scattered those who are proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
- 1 Cor 1:19–20For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.”
- Ps 18:26to the pure You show Yourself pure, but to the crooked You show Yourself shrewd.
- Esth 9:25But when it came before the king, he commanded by letter that the wicked scheme which Haman had devised against the Jews should come back upon his own head, and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows.
- Ps 35:7–8For without cause they laid their net for me; without reason they dug a pit for my soul.
- Esth 7:10So they hanged Haman on the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the fury of the king subsided.
- 2 Sam 15:31Now someone told David: “Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom.” So David pleaded, “O LORD, please turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness!”
- Prov 3:32for the LORD detests the perverse, but He is a friend to the upright.
- Esth 6:4–11“Who is in the court?” the king asked. Now Haman had just entered the outer court of the palace to ask the king to hang Mordecai on the gallows he had prepared for him.
- 2 Sam 17:23When Ahithophel saw that his advice had not been followed, he saddled his donkey and set out for his house in his hometown. He put his affairs in order and hanged himself. So he died and was buried in his father’s tomb.
- 2 Sam 15:34But you can thwart the counsel of Ahithophel for me if you return to the city and say to Absalom: ‘I will be your servant, my king; in the past I was your father’s servant, but now I will be your servant.’
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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
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.