For truly my words are not false. One who is perfect in knowledge is with you.
Parallel Translations
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For truly my words are not false. One who is perfect in knowledge is with you.
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For truly my words shall not be false: he that is perfect in knowledge is with thee.
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For truly my words are not false; one that is upright in mind is with thee.
Cross-references (16)
Passages linked to Job 36:4 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Job 37:16 Do you know the workings of the clouds, the wondrous works of him who is perfect in knowledge?
- Proverbs 8:7-8 For my mouth speaks truth. Wickedness is an abomination to my lips. All the words of my mouth are in righteousness. There is nothing crooked or perverse in them.
- Psalms 49:3 My mouth will speak words of wisdom. My heart will utter understanding.
- 1 Corinthians 14:20 Brothers, don’t be children in thoughts, yet in malice be babies, but in thoughts be mature.
- 2 Timothy 3:16-17 Every Scripture is God-breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness, that each person who belongs to God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.
- Job 13:4 But you are forgers of lies. You are all physicians of no value.
- Job 13:7 Will you speak unrighteously for God, and talk deceitfully for him?
- Job 21:27 “Behold, I know your thoughts, the plans with which you would wrong me.
- Job 21:34 So how can you comfort me with nonsense, because in your answers there remains only falsehood?”
- Job 22:6-30 For you have taken pledges from your brother for nothing, and stripped the naked of their clothing. You haven’t given water to the weary to drink, and you have withheld bread from the hungry. But as for the mighty man, he had the earth. The honorable man, he lived in it. You have sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless have been broken. Therefore snares are around you. Sudden fear troubles you, or darkness, so that you can not see, and floods of waters cover you. “Isn’t God in the heights of heaven? See the height of the stars, how high they are! You say, ‘What does God know? Can he judge through the thick darkness? Thick clouds are a covering to him, so that he doesn’t see. He walks on the vault of the sky.’ Will you keep the old way, which wicked men have trodden, who were snatched away before their time, whose foundation was poured out as a stream, who said to God, ‘Depart from us;’ and, ‘What can the Almighty do for us?’ Yet he filled their houses with good things, but the counsel of the wicked is far from me. The righteous see it, and are glad. The innocent ridicule them, saying, ‘Surely those who rose up against us are cut off. The fire has consumed their remnant.’ “Acquaint yourself with him, now, and be at peace. By it, good will come to you. Please receive instruction from his mouth, and lay up his words in your heart. If you return to the Almighty, you will be built up, if you put away unrighteousness far from your tents. Lay your treasure in the dust, the gold of Ophir among the stones of the brooks. The Almighty will be your treasure, and precious silver to you. For then you will delight yourself in the Almighty, and will lift up your face to God. You will make your prayer to him, and he will hear you. You will pay your vows. You will also decree a thing, and it will be established to you. Light will shine on your ways. When they cast down, you will say, ‘be lifted up.’ He will save the humble person. He will even deliver him who is not innocent. Yes, he will be delivered through the cleanness of your hands.”
- Job 33:3 My words will utter the uprightness of my heart. That which my lips know they will speak sincerely.
- Proverbs 22:20-21 Haven’t I written to you thirty excellent things of counsel and knowledge, To teach you truth, reliable words, to give sound answers to the ones who sent you?
- Luke 1:3 it seemed good to me also, having traced the course of all things accurately from the first, to write to you in order, most excellent Theophilus;
- Acts 24:22 But Felix, having more exact knowledge concerning the Way, deferred them, saying, “When Lysias, the commanding officer, comes down, I will decide your case.”
- 2 Corinthians 2:17 For we are not as so many, peddling the word of God. But as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God, we speak in Christ.
- Colossians 4:12 Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, salutes you, always striving for you in his prayers, that you may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (15 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Thou shalt perceive that I am a faithful instructor,…
Thou shalt perceive that I am a faithful instructor, and that I speak to thee in the name of God.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Job 36:4 For truly my words [shall] not [be]…
Job 36:4 For truly my words [shall] not [be] false: he that is perfect in knowledge [is] with thee.
Ver. 4. For truly my words shall not be false] I shall deal truly and plainly with thee; my discourse shall be simple and solid, having no better ornament but that of truth; which is like our first parents, most beautiful when naked: it was sin covered them, it is treachery hides this. Aperta veritas clausos etiam oculos ferit, saith one.
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He that is perfect in knowledge is with thee] Integer sententiis (Vatab.); meaning himself, who fully understood the business between them, and would faithfully deliver it. There are that hold God to be hereby meant. A pious sense, but not so proper.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain I will not speak any thing against my own…
I will not speak any thing against my own conscience, nor against truth, either to flatter God, or to vex thee, as thou supposest thy other friends have done, Job 13:7, and elsewhere.
He that is perfect in knowledge is with thee. This is meant either,
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1. Of God. Thou hast to do with a God of perfect knowledge, by whom all Shy words and actions. are weighed; and therefore hast need to be more wary and circumspect in thy expressions and behaviour. Or rather,
2. Of himself, as the former part of the verse is. And he speaketh of himself in the third person, for modesty’s sake. He speaks not of absolute, but of comparative perfection. And whatsoever perfection of knowledge he had, he doth not ascribe it to himself, but to God’s Spirit, Job 32:8. And the meaning may be this, Thou hast not to do with a novice, but with one who hath accurately considered, and through God’s grace doth fully understand, these matters; therefore hearken to me. But the word rendered
perfect signifieth also sincere, or upright, or right. And this may seem best to agree with the former clause, wherein he saith that he would not speak what he knew to be false; and now he adds, that he was and would be upright in the use of his knowledge, or in the delivery of his opinion in this matter, and not be biassed by any passion or prejudice, either to speak otherwise than he thought, or to judge otherwise than he should.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain For truly my words shall not be false,.... But…
For truly my words shall not be false,.... But strictly true; he would take the utmost care to say nothing but the truth, with the greatest impartiality and sincerity, so that what was said might be depended upon; truth spoken briefly, clearly, and on so important a subject as the righteousness of God, deserved attention;
he that is perfect in knowledge is with thee; meaning either God, whose knowledge is perfect, who knows all persons and things; knows himself, his nature, persons, and perfections; his thoughts, counsels, and purposes; all his creatures, angels and men; the hearts of all men, their thoughts, words, and works; he, the omniscient and omnipresent God was with Job, from whose presence there is no fleeing; and therefore it became him to be careful of his thoughts, words, and actions; that he did not entertain any unbecoming thoughts of God, and say anything unworthy of him, or do anything that tended to his dishonour; since he was present with him, and nothing could escape his notice: or else Elihu means himself; suggesting, that he who undertook to speak for God and plead his cause, and clear him from the charge of unrighteousness, was no novice, but one that thoroughly understood the point in hand; and though no man is perfect in knowledge in an absolute sense, yet may be in comparison of others; or however may be upright and sincere in his knowledge; which sense the word used often has; and so it may signify, that as he was a sincere searcher after knowledge, and had through divine goodness attained to a competent share of it, even of sound and not superficial knowledge, he should be honest and upright in the communication of it; and this he might choose to observe the more, to excite the attention of Job to what he had to say; though it may be the truest reading of the words is, "perfect knowledge" or "perfection of knowledge is with thee" (k), that is, in his own apprehension, so Jarchi; and may be understood either ironically, or rather really, insinuating that Job was a man of such consummate wisdom and knowledge, that he would easily see the force of his reasonings, and the justness of them, and acquiesce in them; and having thus prefaced his discourse, he next enters upon his subject.
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(k) "scientiae perfectae tecum"; so some in Bar Tzemach.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain He, &c. - Thou hast to do with a…
He, &c. - Thou hast to do with a God of perfect knowledge, by whom all thy words and actions are weighed.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 4. My words shall not be false] My…
Verse 4. My words shall not be false] My words shall be truth without falsity.
He that is perfect in knowledge is with thee.] "The perfection of knowledge is with thee." Thou art a sensible, well-informed man, and will be able to judge of what I say.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain For truly my words shall not be false -…
For truly my words shall not be false - This is designed to conciliate attention. It is a professed purpose to state nothing but truth. Even in order to vindicate the ways of God he would state nothing but what would bear the most rigid examination. Job had charged on his friends a purpose “to speak wickedly for God;” to make use of unsound arguments in vindicating his cause, (see the notes at Job 13:7-8), and Elihu now says that “he” will make use of no such reasoning, but that all that he says shall be founded in strict truth.
He that is perfect in knowledge is with thee - This refers undoubtedly to Elihu himself, and is a claim to a clear understanding of the subject. He did not doubt that he was right, and that he had some views which were worthy of their attention. The main idea is, that he was of “sound” knowledge; that his views were not sophistical and captious; that they were founded in truth, and were worthy, therefore. of their profound attention.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Lie. Every orator will promise to speak the truth,…
Lie. Every orator will promise to speak the truth, and will do so sometimes to gain credit. (Worthington) --- Shall be. Hebrew, "is with thee." Thou art not devoid of sense, and thou wilt (Calmet) surely approve my reasons, which are suggested by the God of all knowledge. (Haydock)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain I will not "speak wickedly for God," as the…
I will not "speak wickedly for God," as the friends (Job 13:4, Job 13:7-8) --that is, vindicate God by unsound arguments.
he that is perfect, &c.--Rather, as the parallelism requires, "a man of integrity in sentiments is with thee" (is he with whom thou hast to do). Elihu means himself, as opposed to the dishonest reasonings of the friends (Job 21:34).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 4. Perfect in knowledge — Literally, knowledges. In the…
4. Perfect in knowledge — Literally, knowledges. In the theodicy which he proposes to Job he claims faultlessness and clearness of perception. (Delitzsch.) The use of the same phrase in Job_37:16, of Deity, leads some to ascribe this attributive here also to God.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 4. The speaker makes a higher claim than to…
4. The speaker makes a higher claim than to sincerity here; he claims the character of absolute truth for his teaching—he is perfect in knowledge. In a slightly different form the phrase “perfect in knowledge” is applied to God, ch. Job_37:16; cf. 1Sa_2:3.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (4) He that is perfect in knowledge.—We may presume…
(4) He that is perfect in knowledge.—We may presume that he meant God; but in the Authorised Version it looks very much as though he meant himself. (Comp. Job_37:16.) So apparently Vulg., “perfecta scientia probabitur tibi.”
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain For truly my words shall not be false: he…
For truly my words shall not be false: he that is perfect in knowledge is with thee. The words sound arrogant; but perhaps Elihu does not mean any more than W pledge himself to speak truthfully, and to say only what he has perfect knowledge of. It is clear that he speaks of himself, net of God (Stanley Loathes). in the second clause of the verse, as in the first.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 my words will not be false
my words will not be false
"what I say will not be false"
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someone who is mature in knowledge is with you
The word "someone" refers to Elihu himself. He speaks of being very knowledgeable as if it were being mature in knowledge. AT: "I, who am with you, am very knowledgeable" (See: Metaphor)
See
"Look" or "Listen" or "Pay attention to what I am about to tell you"
he is mighty in strength of understanding
The phrase "mighty in strength" forms a doublet that means "very strong." Elihu speaks of God understanding everything perfectly as if his understanding were very strong. AT: "he is very strong in understanding" or "he understands everything completely" (See: Doublet and Metaphor)
translationWords
word
might
strength
understand
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 36:4 I am a man of great knowledge (literally…
36:4 I am a man of great knowledge (literally one who is perfect in knowledge is with you): Elihu was probably claiming to be completely sincere or saying that his logic was flawless.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.