Job 15:9
in Job 15What do you know that we do not? What do you understand that is not clear to us?
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
What knowest thou, that we know not? What understandest thou, which is not in us?
KJV
What knowest thou, that we know not? what understandest thou, which is not in us?
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This verse in Job 15
Commentary
9 notes on this verseThis 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
What do you understand
Eliphaz throws back Job's own words of 12:3 and 13:2, where Job claimed to know as much as the friends. Barnes paraphrases the reply: the friends have had equal advantages and understand just as much. The contest is now over rank in wisdom.
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
Third, he shows it in comparison to other men. But Job does not in fact seem to be any wiser than others from confidence in the possession of a higher knowledge so that he can presume to dispute with God. So he then says, "What …
Ver. 9. What knowest thou that we know not? What understandest thou which is not in us? Which same sentences plainly shew in what exaltation of mind all that comes forth, which sounds as if it were for defence of the Lord.
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
What knowest thou that we know not?....
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
What knowest thou - Is it likely that thy intellect is greater than ours; and that thou hast cultivated it better than we have done ours? What understandest thou - Or, Dost thou understand any thing, and it is not with us? Show us any point of knowledge possessed by thyself, of which we are ignorant.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
What knowest thou that we know not? - What pretensions or claims to wisdom have you which we have not? We have had, at least, equal advantages, and may be presumed to know as much as you.
The words behind it
8 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| מַה־ | mah- | what? | H4100 → | 752 times |
| יָּ֭דַעְתָּ | yada'ta | do you know | H3045 → | 945 times |
| וְלֹ֣א | velo' | and not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| נֵדָ֑ע | neda' | we know | H3045 → | 945 times |
| תָּ֝בִ֗ין | tavin | do you understand? | H995 → | 170 times |
| וְֽלֹא־ | velo'- | and not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| עִמָּ֥נוּ | ʾimanu | [is] with us | H5973 → | 1050 times |
| הֽוּא׃ | hu' | it | H1931 → | 1879 times |
מַה־what?
mah-H4100 →752 times
יָּ֭דַעְתָּdo you know
yada'taH3045 →945 times
וְלֹ֣אand not
velo'H3808 →5168 times
נֵדָ֑עwe know
neda'H3045 →945 times
תָּ֝בִ֗יןdo you understand?
tavinH995 →170 times
וְֽלֹא־and not
velo'-H3808 →5168 times
עִמָּ֥נוּ[is] with us
ʾimanuH5973 →1050 times
הֽוּא׃it
hu'H1931 →1879 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
2 Corinthians 10:7You are looking at outward appearances. If anyone is confident that he belongs to Christ, he should remind himself that we belong to Christ just as much as he does.
it leads to
- John 7:24
Stop judging by outward appearances, and start judging justly.”
- 1 Corinthians 14:37
If anyone considers himself a prophet or spiritual person, let him acknowledge that what I am writing you is the Lord’s command.
- 2 Corinthians 5:12
We are not commending ourselves to you again. Instead, we are giving you an occasion to be proud of us, so that you can answer those who take pride in appearances rather than in…
- 2 Corinthians 11:23
Are they servants of Christ? I am speaking like I am out of my mind, but I am so much more: in harder labor, in more imprisonments, in worse beatings, in frequent danger of…
- 1 Corinthians 9:1
Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you yourselves not my workmanship in the Lord?
- John 7:24
Through
Job 13:2What you know, I also know; I am not inferior to you.
it leads to
- Job 12:3
But I also have a mind; I am not inferior to you. Who does not know such things as these?
- Job 12:3
Through
2 Corinthians 11:5I consider myself in no way inferior to those “super-apostles.”
it leads to
- 2 Corinthians 12:11–12
I have become a fool, but you drove me to it. In fact, you should have commended me, since I am in no way inferior to those “super-apostles,” even though I am nothing.
- 1 Corinthians 15:10
But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace to me was not in vain. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of…
- 2 Corinthians 12:11–12
About Job
This page draws on 9 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; 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.