Job 33:12
in Job 33Behold, you are not right in this matter. I will answer you, for God is greater than man.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Behold, I will answer thee, in this thou art not just; For God is greater than man.
KJV
Behold, in this thou art not just: I will answer thee, that God is greater than man.
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This verse in Job 33
Commentary
11 notes on this verseThis is the thing then in which thou art not justified. I will answer thee, that God is greater than man. Blessed Job had indeed truly said, that he had been scourged without any fault. For he said of himself exactly what the Lord had said of him to the devil, Thou hast moved Me against him to afflict him without cause. But Eliu did not believe, that his fault doing nothing in it, he could be scourged as a matter of grace.
This site's exposition
Surely you have spoken in my hearing
on Job 33:8-12
“Surely you have spoken in my hearing” begins Elihu's quotation. He answers, “you are not right in this matter”, “for God is greater than man”. Wesley reads verse 12 as the thesis stated early, the argument still to come, and Henry notes the quotation is fair to Job's words.
This site's exposition
God is greater than man
Jamieson, Fausset and Brown draw out the reasoning. A God greater than man has no need to watch him as an enemy, as though man were His equal. Henry adds that Job was unjust to God, withholding the acknowledgment of His goodness.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
Because this second point excludes the first, he then says, "It is in this then in which you are not justified," as if to say: You cannot say you are just because the very fact that you impute injustice to God shows your injustice. Eliud …
The Puritans and the Awakening4 voices
Not just - Thou art in the wrong. Greater - Not only in power and majesty, but also in justice, and wisdom, and goodness, and therefore thou dost foolishly, in censuring his judgments, thou castest off that awe and reverence which thou shouldest constantly maintain towards thy sovereign Lord.
"Thou dost not deal justly with God." To be just is to render to all their due; now we do not render to God his due, nor are we just to him, if we do not acknowledge his equity and kindness in all his dispensations of his providence towards us, that he is righteous in all his ways, and that, however it be, yet he is good. "Thou dost not speak the language of a righteous man.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — odd-straight-quotes
Behold, in this thou art not just,....
The care God takes of man, and the various ways and means he uses to do his soul good, which we have reason to think he designs when he lays bodily afflictions upon him,
3 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
in this--view of God and His government. It cannot be that God should jealously "watch" man, though "spotless," as an "enemy," or as one afraid of him as an equal. For "God is greater than man!" There must be sin in man, even though he be no hypocrite, which needs correction by suffering for the sufferer's good.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
In this thou art not just - Thou hast laid charges against God’s dealings, but thou hast not been able to justify those charges; and were there nothing else against thee, these irreverent speeches are so many proofs that thou art not clear in the sight of God.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Behold, in this thou art not just - In this view of God, and in these reflections on his character and government. Such language in regard to the Deity cannot be vindicated; such views cannot be right. It cannot be that he wishes to be the foe of man; that he watches with a jealous eye every movement with a view to find something that will justify him in bringing heavy calamities upon his creatures, or that he sets himself as a spy upon the way in which man goes, in order to find out something that shall make it proper for him to treat him as an enemy. It cannot be denied that Job had indulged in language making substantially such representations of God, and that he had thus given occasion for the reproof of Elihu. It can as little be denied that such thoughts frequently pass through the minds of the afflicted, though they do not express them in words, nor is it less doubtful that they should be at once banished from the soul. They cannot be true. It cannot be that God thus regards and treats his crea tures; that he wishes to find “occasion” in them to make it proper for him to bring calamity upon them, or that he desires to regard them as his foes. I will answer thee - That is, I will show that this view is unjust.” This he does in the subsequent verses by stating what he supposes to be the real design of afflictions, and by showing that God in these trials had a good and benevolent object. That - - כי kı̂y. […]
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
for God exceeds man God does not have to be so exact with man because the Holy One, blessed be He, has more virtues than man.
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. 7 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
9 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| הֶן־ | hen- | here! | H2005 → | 316 times |
| זֹ֣את | zot | this | H2063 → | 603 times |
| לֹא־ | lo'- | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| צָדַ֣קְתָּ | tzadakta | you are in [the] right | H6663 → | 41 times |
| אֶעֱנֶ֑ךָּ | ʾeeneka | I will answer you | H6030 → | 331 times |
| כִּֽי־ | ki- | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| יִרְבֶּ֥ה | yirbeh | he is great | H7235 → | 227 times |
| אֱ֝ל֗וֹהַ | ʾeloha | God | H433 → | 57 times |
| מֵאֱנֽוֹשׁ׃ | meenoosh | more than a human | H582 → | 566 times |
הֶן־here!
hen-H2005 →316 times
זֹ֣אתthis
zotH2063 →603 times
לֹא־not
lo'-H3808 →5168 times
צָדַ֣קְתָּyou are in [the] right
tzadaktaH6663 →41 times
אֶעֱנֶ֑ךָּI will answer you
ʾeenekaH6030 →331 times
כִּֽי־for
ki-H3588 →4482 times
יִרְבֶּ֥הhe is great
yirbehH7235 →227 times
אֱ֝ל֗וֹהַGod
ʾelohaH433 →57 times
מֵאֱנֽוֹשׁ׃more than a human
meenooshH582 →566 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
Job 36:5Indeed, God is mighty, but He despises no one; He is mighty in strength of understanding.
it leads to
- Psalms 22:24
For He has not despised or detested the torment of the afflicted. He has not hidden His face from him, but has attended to his cry for help.
- Psalms 138:6
Though the LORD is on high, He attends to the lowly; but the proud He knows from afar.
- Jeremiah 10:12
The LORD made the earth by His power; He established the world by His wisdom and stretched out the heavens by His understanding.
- Job 37:23
The Almighty is beyond our reach; He is exalted in power! In His justice and great righteousness He does not oppress.
- Psalms 147:5
Great is our Lord, and mighty in power; His understanding has no limit.
- Psalms 22:24
Through
Job 9:4God is wise in heart and mighty in strength. Who has resisted Him and prospered?
it leads to
- Job 36:5
Indeed, God is mighty, but He despises no one; He is mighty in strength of understanding.
- Job 36:5
Through
Ezekiel 18:25Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ Hear now, O house of Israel: Is it My way that is unjust? Is it not your ways that are unjust?
it leads to
- Ezekiel 33:17
Yet your people say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ But it is their way that is not just.
- Malachi 3:13–15
“Your words against Me have been harsh,” says the LORD. “Yet you ask, ‘What have we spoken against You?’
- Ezekiel 33:17
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Job
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); 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 (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.