Shall not they teach thee, and tell thee, and utter words out of their heart?
Parallel translations
- WEB Shall they not teach you, tell you, and utter words out of their heart?
- BSB Will they not teach you and tell you, and speak from their understanding?
- NKJV Will they not teach you and tell you, And utter words from their heart?
- NASB “Will they not teach you and tell you, And bring forth words from their minds?
- NLT But those who came before us will teach you. They will teach you the wisdom of old.
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
Bildad asks whether the wise of old will not instruct Job from their understanding. He commends learning from their reflective words.
Overview
Bildad expects the teaching of past generations to set Job straight. The verse closes his appeal to tradition, presenting ancestral wisdom as speaking 'out of their heart,' from settled understanding. Yet the very mystery Job faces shows that even the best human wisdom needs the light of divine revelation to be complete.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Prov 18:15The heart of the prudent getteth knowledge; and the ear of the wise seeketh knowledge.
- Matt 12:35A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things.
- Deut 11:19And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
- Ps 145:4One generation shall praise thy works to another, and shall declare thy mighty acts.
- Job 12:7–8But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee; and the fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee:
- Job 32:7I said, Days should speak, and multitude of years should teach wisdom.
- Heb 12:1Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
- Deut 6:7And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
- Heb 11:4By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.
- Prov 16:23The heart of the wise teacheth his mouth, and addeth learning to his lips.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 8:10 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.