Job 17:4

Job 17:4 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)For thou hast hid their heart from understanding: therefore shalt thou not exalt them.
• New International Version (NIV)You have closed their minds to understanding; therefore you will not let them triumph.
• English Standard Version (ESV)Since you have closed their hearts to understanding, therefore you will not let them triumph.
• New King James Version (NKJV)For You have hidden their heart from understanding; Therefore You will not exalt them.

Context of Job 17:4

2Surely there are mockers and mockery with me, And my eye gazes on their obstinacy and provocation. 3“Give me a pledge (guarantee, promise) with Yourself [acknowledge my innocence before my death]; Who is there that will be my guarantor and give security for me? But You [Lord] have closed their hearts to understanding, Therefore You will not exalt them [by giving a verdict against me]. 5He who denounces and informs against his friends for a share of the spoil, The eyes of his children will also languish and fail. 6“But He has made me a byword and mockery among the people, And I have become one in whose face people spit.

Job 17:4 word by word

כִּֽי־לִ֭בָּם צָפַ֣נְתָּ מִּשָּׂ֑כֶל עַל־כֵּ֝֗ן לֹ֣א תְרֹמֵֽם׃Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• For thou hast hidצָפַןtsâphan · to treasureH6845
• their heartלֵבlêb · heartH3820
• from understandingשֵׂ֫כֶלώekel ώêkel · understandingH7922
• therefore shalt thou not exaltרוּםrûm · to exaltH7311

Cross-references for Job 17:4

• 2 Samuel 15:31David was told, “Ahithophel [your counselor] is among the conspirators with Absalom.” David said, “O Lord, I pray You, turn Ahithophel’s counsel into foolishness.”
• 2 Samuel 17:14Then Absalom and all the men of Israel said, “The advice of Hushai the Archite is better than that of Ahithophel.” For the Lord had ordained to thwart the good advice of Ahithophel, so that the Lord could bring disaster upon Absalom.
• 2 Chronicles 25:16As he was talking, the king said to him, “Have we made you the king’s counselor? Stop! Why should you be put to death?” Then the prophet stopped and said, “I know that God has decided to destroy you because you have done this and have ignored my advice.”
• Isaiah 19:14The Lord has mixed a spirit of distortion within her; Her leaders have caused Egypt to stagger in all that she does, As a drunken man staggers in his vomit.
• Matthew 11:25At that time Jesus said, “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth [I openly and joyfully acknowledge Your great wisdom], that You have hidden these things [these spiritual truths] from the wise and intelligent and revealed them to infants [to new believers, to those seeking God’s will and purpose].
• Matthew 13:11Jesus replied to them, “To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted.
• Romans 11:8just as it is written [in Scripture], “God gave them a spirit of stupor, Eyes that do not see and ears that do not hear, [a spiritual apathy that has continued] to this very day.”
• 1 Corinthians 1:20Where is the wise man (philosopher)? Where is the scribe (scholar)? Where is the debater (logician, orator) of this age? Has God not exposed the foolishness of this world’s wisdom?

Commentaries on Job 17:4

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 4For thou hast hid their heart - This address is to God; and here he is represented as doing that which in the course of his providence he only permits to be done. Shalt thou not exalt them - This was exactly fulfilled: not one of Job's friends was exalted; on the contrary, God condemned the whole; and they were not received into the Divine favor till Job sacrificed, and made intercession for them.Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 4For thou hast hid their heart from understanding - That is, the heart of his professed friends. Job says that they were blind and perverse, and indisposed to render him justice; and he therefore pleads that he may carry his cause directly before God. He attributes their want of understanding to the agency of God in accordance with the doctrine which prevailed in early times, and which is so often expressed in the Scriptures, that God is the source of…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 3-5Give me, I pray, the pledge You demand (literally please keep my pledge with yourself): A pledge (Hebrew ‘erabon) can be a deposit that guarantees payment (Genesis 38:17–20; Exodus 22:26–27; Deuteronomy 24:10–14; see Proverbs 20:16; 27:13). So, this might suggest God forgiving sin (making atonement). It might also refer to Job’s wish for an advocate to support his cause (see study note on Job 16:19–21).Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 44. their heart--The intellect of his friends. shalt ... exalt--Rather imperative, "exalt them not"; allow them not to conquer [Umbreit], (Is 6:9, 10).Read the comment

In the dictionaries

• Extinct
• Hold
• Exalt
• Job, Book of

Commentaries on Job 17

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Rashi on Tanakh
• Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings