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 mockers are with me, my eyes must gaze on their hostility. 3“Make then a pledge for me with You. Who else would strike hands with me? Because You have closed their heart to understanding, therefore You will not exalt them. 5If anyone denounces his friends for profit the eyes of his children will fail. 6He has made me a byword to people, I am the 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 15:31Then someone told David saying, “Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom.” So David prayed, “Adonai, please turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness.”
• 2 Samuel 17:14Then Absalom and all the men of Israel said, “The counsel of Hushai the Archite is better than the counsel of Ahithophel.” For Adonai had ordained to thwart Ahithophel’s good counsel, so that Adonai might bring evil upon Absalom.
• 2 Chronicles 25:16But while he was still speaking to him, the king said to him, “Have we appointed you a counselor to the king? Stop! Why should you be struck down?” So the prophet stopped after he said, “Now I know that God has determined to destroy you, because you have acted this way and have not listened to my counsel.”
• Isaiah 19:14Adonai has mixed within her a spirit of dizziness. They make Egypt stagger in every work, as a drunkard staggers in his vomit.
• Matthew 11:25At that time Yeshua said in response, “I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and of earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and discerning and revealed them to infants.
• Matthew 13:11And He replied to them, “To you has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.
• Romans 11:8just as it is written, “God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes not to see and ears not to hear, until this very day.”
• 1 Corinthians 1:20Where is the wise one? Where is the Torah scholar? Where is the debater of this age? Hasn’t God made foolish the wisdom of the 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