English Standard Version
Job 21:22
22Will any teach God knowledge, seeing that he judges those who are on high?
Job 21:22 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)Shall any teach God knowledge? seeing he judgeth those that are high.
- New International Version (NIV)“Can anyone teach knowledge to God, since he judges even the highest?
- New King James Version (NKJV)“Can anyone teach God knowledge, Since He judges those on high?
- New Living Translation (NLT)“But who can teach a lesson to God, since he judges even the most powerful?
Context of Job 21:22
20Let their own eyes see their destruction, and let them drink of the wrath of the Almighty. 21For what do they care for their houses after them, when the number of their months is cut off? Will any teach God knowledge, seeing that he judges those who are on high? 23One dies in his full vigor, being wholly at ease and secure, 24his pails full of milk and the marrow of his bones moist.
Read all of Job 21Job 21:22 word by word
הַלְאֵ֥ל יְלַמֶּד־דָּ֑עַת וְ֝ה֗וּא רָמִ֥ים יִשְׁפּֽוֹט׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Job 21:22
- Job 40:2"Shall a faultfinder contend with the Almighty? He who argues with God, let him answer it."
- Isaiah 40:13Who has measured the Spirit of the Lord, or what man shows him his counsel?
- Isaiah 45:9"Woe to him who strives with him who formed him, a pot among earthen pots! Does the clay say to him who forms it, 'What are you making?' or 'Your work has no handles'?
- Romans 11:34"For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?"
- 1 Corinthians 2:16"For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?" But we have the mind of Christ.
- Job 34:17Shall one who hates justice govern? Will you condemn him who is righteous and mighty,
- Psalms 113:5Who is like the Lord our God, who is seated on high,
- Ecclesiastes 5:8If you see in a province the oppression of the poor and the violation of justice and righteousness, do not be amazed at the matter, for the high official is watched by a higher, and there are yet higher ones over them.
- Isaiah 40:22It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to dwell in;
- 1 Corinthians 6:3Do you not know that we are to judge angels? How much more, then, matters pertaining to this life!
- 2 Peter 2:4For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment;
- Jude 1:6And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day—
- Revelation 20:1Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain.
Commentaries on Job 21:22
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 22Shall any teach God knowledge? - Who among the sons of men can pretend to teach God how to govern the world, who himself teaches those that are high - the heavenly inhabitants, that excel us infinitely both in knowledge and wisdom? Neither angels nor men can comprehend the reasons of the Divine providence. It is a depth known only to God.Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 22Shall any teach God knowledge? - This commences the reply of Job to the sentiments of his friends to which he had just adverted. The substance of the reply is, that no one could prescribe to God how he should deal with people, and that it; was not a FACT that people were treated as they had supposed. Instead of its being true, as they maintained, that wicked people would all be cut down in some fearful and violent manner, as a punishment for their sins…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 17-26Verses 17-26 Job had described the prosperity of wicked people; in these verses he opposes this to what his friends had maintained about their certain ruin in this life. He reconciles this to the holiness and justice of God. Even while they prosper thus, they are light and worthless, of no account with God, or with wise men. In the height of their pomp and power, there is but a step between them and ruin. Job refers the difference Providence makes between…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 22This question assumes the answer that no one can teach God a lesson (Isaiah 40:13–14; 45:9; Romans 11:34; 1 Corinthians 2:16). The phrase those on high might refer to good or bad angels (demons) (1 Corinthians 6:3; 2 Peter 2:4; Jude 1:6; Revelation 20:1–3). Or, more likely, it refers to powerful people on earth (Job 34:17–19).Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 2222. Reply of Job, "In all these assertions you try to teach God how He ought to deal with men, rather than prove that He does in fact so deal with them. Experience is against you. God gives prosperity and adversity as it pleases Him, not as man's wisdom would have it, on principles inscrutable to us" (Is 40:13; Ro 11:34). those ... high--the high ones, not only angels, but men (Is 2:12-17).Read the comment
Topics related to Job 21:22
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Job 21
- 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
English Standard Version — © 2001 Crossway Bibles
Commentaries