Bible Strands
Job 32:13
So do not claim, ‘We have found wisdom; let God, not man, refute him.’
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Elihu speaks to Job’s three friends and to Job after they failed to prove him wrong. He intervenes to correct their assumption that human debate has reached its conclusion.
The words — תֹּ֣֭אמְרוּ (To.me.ru) means “you should say,” and מָצָ֣אנוּ (ma.Tza.nu) means “we have found.” These verbs frame the declaration Elihu explicitly forbids.
The thread — The tension between human cleverness and divine refutation runs through Jeremiah 9:23, Isaiah 5:21, and 1 Corinthians 1:27. Each passage records God’s warning against self-reliant wisdom.
Why it lands — The text commands readers to stop claiming possession of wisdom and to stop using divine refutation as an excuse to avoid answering. It requires direct engagement with the argument rather than rhetorical withdrawal.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Lest ye should say, We have found out wisdom: God thrusteth him down, not man.
Cross-references
- Jeremiah 9:23 This is what the LORD says: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, nor the strong man in his strength, nor the wealthy man in his riches.
- Isaiah 5:21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight.
- 1 Corinthians 1:27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.
- 1 Corinthians 3:18 Let no one deceive himself. If any of you thinks he is wise in this age, he should become a fool, so that he may become wise.
- Genesis 14:23 that I will not accept even a thread, or a strap of a sandal, or anything that belongs to you, lest you should say, ‘I have made Abram rich.’
- Judges 7:2 Then the LORD said to Gideon, “You have too many men for Me to deliver Midian into their hands, lest Israel glorify themselves over Me, saying, ‘My own hand has saved me.’
- Job 1:21 saying: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the LORD.”
- Job 2:10 “You speak as a foolish woman speaks,” he told her. “Should we accept from God only good and not adversity?” In all this, Job did not sin in what he said.
- Job 4:9 By the breath of God they perish, and by the blast of His anger they are consumed.
- Job 6:4 For the arrows of the Almighty have pierced me; my spirit drinks in their poison; the terrors of God are arrayed against me.