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 Living Translation (NLT)You have closed their minds to understanding, but do not let them triumph.

Context of Job 17:4

2Are not mockers with me? And does not my eye dwell on their provocation? 3“Now put down a pledge for me with Yourself. Who is he who will shake hands with me? For You have hidden their heart from understanding; Therefore You will not exalt them. 5He who speaks flattery to his friends, Even the eyes of his children will fail. 6“But He has made me a byword of the people, And I have become one in whose face men 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 15:31Then someone told David, saying, “Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom.” And David said, “O Lord, I pray, turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness!”
• 2 Samuel 17:14So Absalom and all the men of Israel said, “The advice of Hushai the Archite is better than the advice of Ahithophel.” For the Lord had purposed to defeat the good advice of Ahithophel, to the intent that the Lord might bring disaster on Absalom.
• 2 Chronicles 25:16So it was, as he talked with him, that the king said to him, “Have we made you the king’s counselor? Cease! Why should you be killed?” Then the prophet ceased, and said, “I know that God has determined to destroy you, because you have done this and have not heeded my advice.”
• Isaiah 19:14The Lord has mingled a perverse spirit in her midst; And they have caused Egypt to err in all her work, As a drunken man staggers in his vomit.
• Matthew 11:25At that time Jesus answered and said, “I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes.
• Matthew 13:11He answered and said to them, “Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.
• Romans 11:8Just as it is written: “God has given them a spirit of stupor, Eyes that they should not see And ears that they should not hear, To this very day.”
• 1 Corinthians 1:20Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?

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