Bible Strands
Job 34:30
that godless men should not rule or lay snares for the people.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Elihu addresses Job and his companions in the midst of his third discourse, explaining how God’s justice operates even when His face is hidden. The words — חָנֵף (cha.Nef) literally means “godless” or “hypocritical,” and מִ/מֹּ֥קְשֵׁי (mi./Mo.ke.shei) translates to “snares of,” describing the traps set by corrupt leaders. The thread — This theme of corrupt governance affecting the people appears in Proverbs 29:2, 1 Kings 12:28, and 2 Kings 21:9, where wicked or idolatrous rule brings distress or leads the nation astray. Why it lands — The verse demands that readers acknowledge divine sovereignty over human authority and recognize that unchecked godless power inevitably harms the community.
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
That the hypocrite reign not, lest the people be ensnared.
Cross-references
- Proverbs 29:2 When the righteous flourish, the people rejoice, but when the wicked rule, the people groan.
- 1 Kings 12:28 After seeking advice, the king made two golden calves and said to the people, “Going up to Jerusalem is too much for you. Here, O Israel, are your gods, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.”
- 2 Kings 21:9 But the people did not listen and Manasseh led them astray, so that they did greater evil than the nations that the LORD had destroyed before the Israelites.
- Job 34:21 For His eyes are on the ways of a man, and He sees his every step.
- Psalms 12:8 The wicked wander freely, and vileness is exalted among men.
- Hosea 5:11 Ephraim is oppressed, crushed in judgment, for he is determined to follow worthless idols.
- Hosea 13:11 So in My anger I gave you a king, and in My wrath I took him away.
- Micah 6:16 You have kept the statutes of Omri and all the practices of Ahab’s house; you have followed their counsel. Therefore I will make you a desolation, and your inhabitants an object of contempt; you will bear the scorn of the nations.”
- 2 Thessalonians 2:4 He will oppose and exalt himself above every so-called god or object of worship. So he will seat himself in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.
- Revelation 13:3 One of the heads of the beast appeared to have been mortally wounded. But the mortal wound was healed, and the whole world marveled and followed the beast.