For resentment kills a fool, and envy slays the simple.
Parallel translations
- WEB For resentment kills the foolish man, and jealousy kills the simple.
- KJV For wrath killeth the foolish man, and envy slayeth the silly one.
- NKJV For wrath kills a foolish man, And envy slays a simple one.
- NASB “For irritation kills the fool, And jealousy brings death to the simple.
- NLT Surely resentment destroys the fool, and jealousy kills the simple.
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
Eliphaz warns that resentment kills the foolish and jealousy slays the simple. He hints that Job's anguish springs from a sinful, self-destructive spirit.
Overview
Here Eliphaz suggests Job's distress is rooted in vexation and envy, the marks of folly. There is wisdom in the warning that bitterness destroys, echoed in later Scripture. Yet aimed at Job it is a misdiagnosis, treating an upright sufferer as a resentful fool, a reminder that counsel must rightly discern the person before applying even sound proverbs.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- Eccl 7:9Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit, for anger settles in the lap of a fool.
- Ps 75:4I say to the proud, ‘Do not boast,’ and to the wicked, ‘Do not lift up your horn.
- Ps 92:6A senseless man does not know, and a fool does not understand,
- Ps 14:1For the choirmaster. Of David. The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt; their acts are vile. There is no one who does good.
- Job 18:4You who tear yourself in anger—should the earth be forsaken on your account, or the rocks be moved from their place?
- Hos 7:11So Ephraim has become like a silly, senseless dove—calling out to Egypt, then turning to Assyria.
- Gen 30:1When Rachel saw that she was not bearing any children for Jacob, she envied her sister. “Give me children, or I will die!” she said to Jacob.
- Prov 12:16A fool’s anger is known at once, but a prudent man overlooks an insult.
- 1 Sam 18:8–9And Saul was furious and resented this song. “They have ascribed tens of thousands to David,” he said, “but only thousands to me. What more can he have but the kingdom?”
- Rom 2:8But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow wickedness, there will be wrath and anger.
- Ps 107:17Fools, in their rebellious ways, and through their iniquities, suffered affliction.
- Prov 1:22–23“How long, O simple ones, will you love your simple ways? How long will scoffers delight in their scorn and fools hate knowledge?
- 2 Tim 3:6They are the kind who worm their way into households and captivate vulnerable women who are weighed down with sins and led astray by various passions,
- Jonah 4:9Then God asked Jonah, “Have you any right to be angry about the plant?” “I do,” he replied. “I am angry enough to die!”
- Prov 8:5O simple ones, learn to be shrewd; O fools, gain understanding.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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 5:2 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.