Job 18:3
in Job 18Why are we regarded as cattle, as stupid in your sight?
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Wherefore are we counted as beasts, And are become unclean in your sight?
KJV
Wherefore are we counted as beasts, and reputed vile in your sight?
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This verse in Job 18
Commentary
9 notes on this verseWherefore are we counted as beasts,.... This seems to refer to Job 12:7; where Job sends them to the beasts, to get knowledge and instruction; and therefore it was concluded he reckoned them as such, and put them on a level with them, yea, made them inferior to them; or to Job 17:4; where they are represented as destitute of wisdom and understanding, and therefore it is supposed were counted by Job no other than as beasts.
This site's exposition
Then Bildad the Shuhite replied
on Job 18:1-4
Bildad opens irritated, "How long until you end these speeches". In "You who tear yourself in anger" the tearing Job used of God at 16:9 turns on Job. The question "should the earth be forsaken on your account" accuses him of asking the world to bend for him.
This site's exposition
Why are we regarded as cattle
Bildad takes Job's words at 12:7, where Job sent the friends to the cattle to know God, as an insult. Barnes says the friends feel treated as if they had no sense. Henry calls it pride.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church2 voices
Then he blames him for presumption since he had not deemed them to be wise when he had said, "I will find no wise man among you." (17:10) So to answer this he then says, "Why have you taken us to be asses and deprecate …
Wherefore are we counted as beasts, and reputed as vile in your sight? It is natural to the human mind to suppose that the thing that it does is done to itself. Thus they believe themselves to be despised, who are used to despise the ways of the good; and whereas in such things as are capable of being understood by reason, the Church proves against heretics that what they make up is unreasonable, they imagine themselves to be counted as 'beasts' in her view.
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Because his high spirit resented what Job had said as if it had been the greatest affront imaginable. Proud men are apt to think themselves slighted more than really they are. Because his hot spirit was willing to find a pretence to be hard upon Job.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
beasts--alluding to what Job said (Job 12:7; so Isa 1:3). vile--rather from a Hebrew root, "to stop up." "Stubborn," answering to the stupidity implied in the parallel first clause [UMBREIT].
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
Counted as beasts - Thou treatest us as if we had neither reason nor understanding.
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Wherefore are we counted as beasts? - “Why are we treated in your remarks as if we had no sense, and were unworthy of sound argument in reply to what we say?” It is possible that there may be reference here to what Job said Job 12:7 - that even the beasts could give them information about God. But the general idea is, that Job had not treated their views with the attention which they deserved, but had regarded them as unworthy of notice.
The words behind it
5 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| מַ֭דּוּעַ | madua' | why? | H4069 → | 72 times |
| נֶחְשַׁ֣בְנוּ | nechshavnu | are we regarded | H2803 → | 124 times |
| כַבְּהֵמָ֑ה | khabehemah | like <the> cattle | H929 → | 190 times |
| נִ֝טְמִ֗ינוּ | nitminu | are we considered stupid? | H2933 → | |
| בְּעֵינֵיכֶֽם׃ | beeineikhem | in view your | H5869 → | 887 times |
מַ֭דּוּעַwhy?
madua'H4069 →72 times
נֶחְשַׁ֣בְנוּare we regarded
nechshavnuH2803 →124 times
כַבְּהֵמָ֑הlike <the> cattle
khabehemahH929 →190 times
נִ֝טְמִ֗ינוּare we considered stupid?
nitminuH2933 →
בְּעֵינֵיכֶֽם׃in view your
beeineikhemH5869 →887 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
Ecclesiastes 3:18I said to myself, “As for the sons of men, God tests them so that they may see for themselves that they are but beasts.”
it leads to
- Psalms 73:22
I was senseless and ignorant; I was a brute beast before You.
- Psalms 49:12
But a man, despite his wealth, cannot endure; he is like the beasts that perish.
- 2 Peter 2:12
These men are like irrational animals, creatures of instinct, born to be captured and destroyed. They blaspheme in matters they do not understand, and like such creatures, they too will be destroyed.
- Psalms 73:22
Through
Psalms 73:22I was senseless and ignorant; I was a brute beast before You.
it leads to
- Ecclesiastes 3:18
I said to myself, “As for the sons of men, God tests them so that they may see for themselves that they are but beasts.”
- Psalms 92:6
A senseless man does not know, and a fool does not understand,
- Psalms 49:10
For it is clear that wise men die, and the foolish and the senseless both perish and leave their wealth to others.
- Ecclesiastes 3:18
Through
Job 17:4You have closed their minds to understanding; therefore You will not exalt them.
it leads to
- 1 Corinthians 1:20
Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Matthew 11:25
At that time Jesus declared, “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because You have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children.
- 1 Corinthians 1:20
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, 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 XIV; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.