Job 36:4
in Job 36For truly my words are free of falsehood; one perfect in knowledge is with you.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
For truly my words are not false: One that is perfect in knowledge is with thee.
KJV
For truly my words shall not be false: he that is perfect in knowledge is with thee.
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This verse in Job 36
Commentary
8 notes on this verseFor truly my words are without falsehood. Even righteous men, when they see that they cannot be understood by their feeble hearers, are frequently wont to praise the things they say. Not because they are eager for their own praise, but to inflame their hearers with an anxious desire of listening to them; in order that, while they are uttered by their voice, they may be embraced, with more ardent affection, by the hearts of their hearers.
This site's exposition
And Elihu continued
on Job 36:1-4
Elihu asks a last hearing, since “I get my knowledge from afar”. Gill reads this as Elihu reaching past the friends' arguments for a wider view of providence. Henry reads “one perfect in knowledge is with you” as bold self-assurance that the whirlwind speeches will answer on their own terms.
This site's exposition
one perfect in knowledge is with you
Albert Barnes recalls Job 13:7-8, where Job charged the friends with speaking wickedly on God's behalf. Elihu claims his words are free of it. Adam Clarke reads one perfect in knowledge as Job himself, a man able to judge what is said.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
He precludes someone saying that what he was about to say did not proceed from true science, but false opinion saying, "For truly my discourses are without deceit," for I will not say anything but what is true and accords with true knowledge. So he …
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
For truly my words shall not be false,....
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
I will not "speak wickedly for God," as the friends (Job 13:4, 7, 8) --that is, vindicate God by unsound arguments. he that is perfect, &c.--Rather, as the parallelism requires, "a man of integrity in sentiments is with thee" (is he with whom thou hast to do).
My words shall not be false - My words shall be truth without falsity. He that is perfect in knowledge is with thee - “The perfection of knowledge is with thee.” Thou art a sensible, well-informed man, and will be able to judge of what I say.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
For truly my words shall not be false - This is designed to conciliate attention. It is a professed purpose to state nothing but truth. Even in order to vindicate the ways of God he would state nothing but what would bear the most rigid examination. Job had charged on his friends a purpose “to speak wickedly for God;” to make use of unsound arguments in vindicating his cause, (see the notes at Job 13:7-8), and Elihu now says that “he” will make use of no such reasoning, but that all that he says shall be founded in strict truth. He that is perfect in knowledge is with thee - This refers undoubtedly to Elihu himself, and is a claim to a clear understanding of the subject. He did not doubt that he was right, and that he had some views which were worthy of their attention. The main idea is, that he was of “sound” knowledge; that his views were not sophistical and captious; that they were founded in truth, and were worthy, therefore. of their profound attention.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כִּֽי־ | ki- | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| אָ֭מְנָם | ʾamenom | truly | H551 → | 9 times |
| לֹא־ | lo'- | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| שֶׁ֣קֶר | sheker | [are] falsehood | H8267 → | |
| מִלָּ֑י | milai | words my | H4405 → | 38 times |
| תְּמִ֖ים | temim | [one] complete of | H8549 → | 91 times |
| דֵּע֣וֹת | deot | knowledge<s> | H1844 → | |
| עִמָּֽךְ׃ | ʾimakh | [is] with you | H5973 → | 1050 times |
כִּֽי־for
ki-H3588 →4482 times
אָ֭מְנָםtruly
ʾamenomH551 →9 times
לֹא־not
lo'-H3808 →5168 times
שֶׁ֣קֶר[are] falsehood
shekerH8267 →
מִלָּ֑יwords my
milaiH4405 →38 times
תְּמִ֖ים[one] complete of
temimH8549 →91 times
דֵּע֣וֹתknowledge<s>
deotH1844 →
עִמָּֽךְ׃[is] with you
ʾimakhH5973 →1050 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
1 Corinthians 14:20Brothers, stop thinking like children. In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be mature.
it leads to
- 1 Corinthians 13:11
When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I set aside childish ways.
- 1 Peter 2:2
Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation,
- Romans 16:19
Everyone has heard about your obedience, so I rejoice over you. But I want you to be wise about what is good and innocent about what is evil.
- Matthew 18:3
“Truly I tell you,” He said, “unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
- Ephesians 4:14–15
Then we will no longer be infants, tossed about by the waves and carried around by every wind of teaching and by the clever cunning of men in their deceitful scheming.
- 1 Corinthians 13:11
Through
Psalms 49:3My mouth will impart wisdom, and the meditation of my heart will bring understanding.
it leads to
- Matthew 12:35
The good man brings good things out of his good store of treasure, and the evil man brings evil things out of his evil store of treasure.
- Psalms 19:14
May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in Your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.
- Proverbs 22:20–21
Have I not written for you thirty sayings about counsel and knowledge,
- Matthew 12:35
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 XXVI; 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.