Job 15:8
in Job 15Do you listen in on the council of God or limit wisdom to yourself?
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Hast thou heard the secret counsel of God? And dost thou limit wisdom to thyself?
KJV
Hast thou heard the secret of God? and dost thou restrain wisdom to thyself?
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This verse in Job 15
Commentary
11 notes on this verseHast thou heard the secret of God?.... Or, "in the secret of God" (a), in his cabinet council, what was said and done there? hast thou stood in the council of God? hast thou been one of his privy council, or counsellors, and been let into all the secrets of God, of his purposes and providence, and into the reasons of all his administrations, that thou talkest so freely, and boldly, and confidently as thou dost?
This site's exposition
Were you the first man ever born
on Job 15:7-9
Eliphaz mocks Job with the question of primeval wisdom, "Were you the first man ever born", which the speeches from the whirlwind ask in earnest. Barnes notes that these questions are rhetorical weapons, unlike the same form of question when God asks it.
This site's exposition
the council of God
The Hebrew word for council, Barnes explains, first means a cushion or divan, then the circle of advisers who sit on it. Eliphaz asks if Job can listen in on God's council. Only such access would let him limit wisdom to himself.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
Eliphaz is just about to say, did you by any chance exist before the entire world, so that you learned about the most ancient times? Or did you learn anything from the mouth of God? You are not superior to us in knowledge at all. Since you had said that "wisdom is found in a long time," are you not caught in a trap now? In fact, you are not aged at all, nor were you born before the universe. But Job said that so that his friends might show their pride.
The Medieval Church2 voices
Second, by comparison with God. For one can dispute with someone about his deeds fittingly when he knows the reason why the one with whom he is arguing acts. He can know this in two ways. In one way, by learning it from him. In …
Ver. 7, 8. Art thou the first man that was born? or wast thou made before the hills? Hast thou heard the secret of God? and shall His wisdom be inferior to thee? Whence Eliphaz sets himself to reprove blessed Job as it were on principles of reason, saying, Art thou the first man that was born? or wast thou made before the hills? Hast thou heard the secret of God? and shall His wisdom be inferior to thee?
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
"Did not he suffer for sin; and yet wilt not thou, who art so great a sufferer, own thyself a sinner? Wast thou made before the hills, as Wisdom herself was? Must God's counsels, which are as the great mountains ( Ps. xxxvi.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens+odd-straight-quotes
): " Hast thou heard the secret of God? Dost thou pretend to be of the cabinet-council of heaven, that thou canst give better reasons than others can for God's proceedings?" There are secret things of God, which belong not to us, and which therefore we must not pretend to account for. Those are daringly presumptuous who do.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
3 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
Hast thou heard the secret of God? - “Hast thou hearkened in God’s council?” Wert thou one of the celestial cabinet, when God said, Let Us make man in Our image, and in Our likeness? Dost thou restrain wisdom to thyself? - Dost thou wish us to understand that God’s counsels were revealed to none but thyself? And dost thou desire that we should give implicit credence to whatsoever thou art pleased to speak? These are all strong sarcastic questions, and apparently uttered with great contempt.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
secret--rather, "Wast thou a listener in the secret council of God?" The Hebrew means properly the cushions of a divan on which counsellors in the East usually sit. God's servants are admitted to God's secrets (Ps 25:14; Joh 15:15). restrain--Rather, didst thou take away, or borrow, thence (namely, from the divine secret council) thy wisdom?
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Hast thou heard the secret of God? - literally, “in the secret of God hast thou heard” - הסוד hasôd. The word rendered “secret” (סוד sôd) means properly a “couch” or “cushion,” on which one reclines - whether for sleep or at a table, or as a divan. Hence, it means a divan, or circle of persons sitting together for familiar conversation, Jer 6:11; Jer 15:17; or of judges, counsellors, or advisers for consultation, as the word “divan” is now used in Oriental countries; Psa 89:7; Jer 33:18. Then it means any consultation, counsel, familiar conversation, or intimacy; Psa 55:14; Pro 15:22. Here God is represented in Oriental language as seated in a “divan,” or council of state: there is deliberation about the concerns of his government; important questions are agitated and decided; and Eliphaz asks of Job whether he had been admitted to that council, and had heard those deliberations; and whether, if he had not, he was qualified to pronounce as he had done, on the plans and purposes of the Almighty. And dost thou restrain wisdom to thyself? - Having obtained the secret of that council, art thou now keeping it wholly to thyself - as a prime minister might be supposed to keep the purposes resolved on in the divan? “Hast thou listened in the council of yahweh, and dost thou now reserve all wisdom to thyself?”
The words behind it
6 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| הַבְס֣וֹד | havsod | ¿ in [the] council of | H5475 → | 21 times |
| אֱל֣וֹהַ | ʾeloha | God | H433 → | 57 times |
| תִּשְׁמָ֑ע | tishma' | do you listen | H8085 → | 1159 times |
| וְתִגְרַ֖ע | vetigra' | and you may restrain? | H1639 → | 22 times |
| אֵלֶ֣יךָ | ʾeleikha | to yourself | H413 → | 5510 times |
| חָכְמָֽה׃ | chokhmah | wisdom | H2451 → | 153 times |
הַבְס֣וֹד¿ in [the] council of
havsodH5475 →21 times
אֱל֣וֹהַGod
ʾelohaH433 →57 times
תִּשְׁמָ֑עdo you listen
tishma'H8085 →1159 times
וְתִגְרַ֖עand you may restrain?
vetigra'H1639 →22 times
אֵלֶ֣יךָto yourself
ʾeleikhaH413 →5510 times
חָכְמָֽה׃wisdom
chokhmahH2451 →153 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Deuteronomy 29:29The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, so that we may follow all the words of this law.
it leads to
- Daniel 2:22
He reveals the deep and hidden things; He knows what lies in darkness, and light dwells with Him.
- Acts 1:7
Jesus replied, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by His own authority.
- Romans 11:33–34
O, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and untraceable His ways!
- Matthew 13:11
He replied, “The knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them.
- Job 11:6–7
and disclose to you the secrets of wisdom, for true wisdom has two sides. Know then that God exacts from you less than your iniquity deserves.
- Daniel 2:22
Through
1 Corinthians 2:16“For who has known the mind of the Lord, so as to instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ.
it leads to
- Isaiah 40:13–14
Who has directed the Spirit of the LORD, or informed Him as His counselor?
- Romans 11:34
“Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been His counselor?”
- John 16:13–16
However, when the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth. For He will not speak on His own, but He will speak what He hears, and He will declare to…
- Isaiah 40:13–14
About Job
This page draws on 10 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Job; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book XII; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Chrysostom, COMMENTARY ON JOB 15:7A-10B; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.