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Job 17 · a question people ask

Job says to his friends, "I will not find a wise man among you" (17:10). Is he right?

In the text

These are Job's words, and the book doesn't answer them here. At its end the LORD says to Eliphaz, "My wrath is kindled against you, and against your two friends; for you have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job has" (42:7), and Job is to pray for them (42:8). The LORD also asks Job, "Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge?" (38:2). And Paul, with "it is written", quotes words from the book: "He has taken the wise in their craftiness" (1 Corinthians 3:19). They are close to Eliphaz's "He takes the wise in their own craftiness" (5:13); Paul doesn't name Job or Eliphaz, and the WEB words the two a little differently. The book doesn't say which of the friends' words 42:7 has in view. These notes set the verses side by side and don't decide.

The verses

“But as for you all, come back. I will not find a wise man among you.”
Job 17:10 · World English Bible
“It was so, that after the LORD had spoken these words to Job, the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is kindled against you, and against your two friends; for you have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job has. Now therefore, take to yourselves seven bulls and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering; and my servant Job shall pray for you, for I will accept him, that I not deal with you according to your folly. For you have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job has.””
Job 42:7-8 · World English Bible
““Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge?”
Job 38:2 · World English Bible
“He takes the wise in their own craftiness; the counsel of the cunning is carried headlong.”
Job 5:13 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Job 17

Job 17: Where then is my hope?

Job's "Be collateral for me" (17:3) is, in Hebrew, the same word in the same form as Hezekiah's "Be my security" to the Lord (Isaiah 38:14). And stronger in "will grow stronger and stronger" (17:9), a word found only here, Strong's derives from the verb of Job's "I would strengthen you" (16:5).

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions