He taketh the wise in their own craftiness: and the counsel of the froward is carried headlong.
Parallel translations
- WEB He takes the wise in their own craftiness; the counsel of the cunning 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 heathen are sunk down in the pit that they made: in the net which they hid is their own foot taken.
- 1 Cor 3:19For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness.
- Ps 7:15–16He made a pit, and digged it, and is fallen into the ditch which he made.
- Luke 1:51He hath shewed strength with his arm; he hath 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, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.
- Ps 18:26With the pure thou wilt shew thyself pure; and with the froward thou wilt shew thyself froward.
- Esth 9:25But when Esther came before the king, he commanded by letters that his wicked device, which he devised against the Jews, should return upon his own head, and that he and his sons should be hanged on the gallows.
- Ps 35:7–8For without cause have they hid for me their net in a pit, which without cause they have digged 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 15:31And one told David, saying, Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom. And David said, O LORD, I pray thee, turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness.
- Prov 3:32For the froward is abomination to the LORD: but his secret is with the righteous.
- Esth 6:4–11And the king said, Who is in the court? Now Haman was come into the outward court of the king’s house, to speak unto the king to hang Mordecai on the gallows that he had prepared for him.
- 2 Sam 17:23And when Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled his ass, and arose, and gat him home to his house, to his city, and put his household in order, and hanged himself, and died, and was buried in the sepulchre of his father.
- 2 Sam 15:34But if thou return to the city, and say unto Absalom, I will be thy servant, O king; as I have been thy father’s servant hitherto, so will I now also be thy servant: then mayest thou for me defeat 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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