Job 32:13
in Job 32So do not claim, ‘We have found wisdom; let God, not man, refute him.’
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Beware lest ye say, We have found wisdom; God may vanquish him, not man:
KJV
Lest ye should say, We have found out wisdom: God thrusteth him down, not man.
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This verse in Job 32
Commentary
9 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Lest ye should say, We have found out wisdom - That is, this has been permitted and ordered in such a manner that it might be manifest that the truths which are to convince him come from God and not from man. You were not permitted to refute or convince him, for if you had been you would have been lifted up with pride, and would have attributed to yourselves what belongs to God. This is in accordance with the entire drift of the book, which is to introduce the Almighty himself to settle the controversy when human wisdom failed.
This site's exposition
Listen to me
on Job 32:10-14
Elihu's “Listen to me” comes after he says “I listened to your reasoning”. Barnes reads the friends' fallback, “let God, not man, refute him”, as silencing the question with authority in place of argument. Elihu refuses that shortcut, which claims a different method before any different conclusion.
This site's exposition
We have found wisdom
Barnes reads the verse as God's plan. The friends were left with no answer so they could never claim that their own wisdom had refuted Job. Clarke says they would have triumphed over him had they found the words.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church2 voices
Their principal arguments against Job were founded on the adversities of Job which they attributed to divine judgment which is not able to err. He consequently shows that this answer is not sufficient saying, "Lest perhaps you should say, 'We have found wisdom,'" a sufficiently …
A commentator
Gregory the DialogistMorals on the Book of Job, Book XXIII · Written before 604.
proposed
But, as I see, there is no one of you who can convince Job, and reply to his words. Lest ye should perchance say, We have found out wisdom; God hath cast him down, not man. Heretics, from the fact that they are wont to appear contemptible even to men, when they behold Holy Church reverenced by well-nigh all nations, endeavour to impugn the opinion entertained of her by every possible objection; and say that she enjoys all abundance of temporal goods, because the gifts of eternal rewards are taken from her.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
It is time to speak when God's judgments are vouched for the patronizing of men's pride and passion and their unjust uncharitable censures of their brethren; then we must speak on God's behalf.
Lest ye should say, we have found out wisdom,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
This has been so ordered, "lest you should" pride yourselves on having overcome him by your "wisdom" (Jer 9:23, the great aim of the Book of Job); and that you may see, "God alone can thrust him down," that is, confute him, "not man." So Elihu grounds his confutation, not on the maxims of sages, as the friends did, but on his special commission from God (Job 32:8;
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
We have found out wisdom - We by dint of our own wisdom and understanding, have found out the true system of God’s providence; and have been able to account for all the sufferings and tribulations of Job. Had they been able to confute Job, they would have triumphed over him in their own self-sufficiency. God thrusteth him down, not man - This is no accidental thing that has happened to him: he is suffering under the just judgments of God, and therefore he must be the wicked man which we supposed him to be.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
Lest you say You shall not say We have found wisdom by remaining silent in order not to provoke him anymore. for God will crush him and not a man You should not have belittled the honor of the Omnipresent thereby.
2 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
Yea, I attended to you I attended to you, and I saw that there is no one to convince Job.
He did not set up words against me This is a plaint: Woe that he did not set up words against me.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 5 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| פֶּן־ | pen- | lest | H6435 → | |
| תֹּ֣֭אמְרוּ | tomeru | you should say | H559 → | 5305 times |
| מָצָ֣אנוּ | matzanu | we have found | H4672 → | 455 times |
| חָכְמָ֑ה | chokhmah | wisdom | H2451 → | 153 times |
| אֵ֖ל | ʾel | God | H410 → | 241 times |
| יִדְּפֶ֣נּוּ | yidefenu | let him drive about him | H5086 → | |
| לֹא־ | lo'- | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| אִֽישׁ׃ | ʾish | a human | H376 → | 1663 times |
פֶּן־lest
pen-H6435 →
תֹּ֣֭אמְרוּyou should say
tomeruH559 →5305 times
מָצָ֣אנוּwe have found
matzanuH4672 →455 times
חָכְמָ֑הwisdom
chokhmahH2451 →153 times
אֵ֖לGod
ʾelH410 →241 times
יִדְּפֶ֣נּוּlet him drive about him
yidefenuH5086 →
לֹא־not
lo'-H3808 →5168 times
אִֽישׁ׃a human
ʾishH376 →1663 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
Jeremiah 9:23This is what the LORD says: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, nor the strong man in his strength, nor the wealthy man in his riches.
it leads to
- Isaiah 5:21
Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- 1 Corinthians 1:27–29
But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.
- 1 Corinthians 3:18–20
Let no one deceive himself. If any of you thinks he is wise in this age, he should become a fool, so that he may become wise.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Ecclesiastes 9:11
I saw something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong; neither is the bread to the wise, nor the wealth to the intelligent, nor…
- Romans 1:22
Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools,
- Isaiah 5:21
Through
1 Corinthians 3:18Let no one deceive himself. If any of you thinks he is wise in this age, he should become a fool, so that he may become wise.
it leads to
- Proverbs 3:5
Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding;
- 1 Corinthians 1:18–21
For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
- Galatians 6:3
If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.
- Proverbs 3:5
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 (1832-1869); Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Job; Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book XXIII; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.