Bible Strands
Job 38:36
Who has put wisdom in the heart or given understanding to the mind?
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — God addresses Job from the whirlwind, continuing a sequence of rhetorical questions about creation and divine sovereignty.
The words — The text highlights שָ֭ת (Sha.t, "has he put") and שֶׂכְוִי (sekvi, "heart"), framing wisdom and understanding as faculties placed within human inner parts rather than self-generated traits.
The thread — The attribution of wisdom and understanding to God appears in Job 32:8, Psalm 51:6, and Proverbs 2:6, where divine breath, teaching, or direct gift is identified as the origin of human insight.
Why it lands — It requires the reader to acknowledge that cognitive capacity is received rather than earned, shifting the basis of authority from human reasoning to divine provision.
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
Who hath put wisdom in the inward parts? or who hath given understanding to the heart?
Cross-references
- Job 32:8 But there is a spirit in a man, the breath of the Almighty, that gives him understanding.
- Psalms 51:6 Surely You desire truth in the inmost being; You teach me wisdom in the inmost place.
- Proverbs 2:6 For the LORD gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding.
- Ecclesiastes 2:26 To the man who is pleasing in His sight, He gives wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner He assigns the task of gathering and accumulating that which he will hand over to one who pleases God. This too is futile and a pursuit of the wind.
- James 1:5 Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.
- Exodus 31:3 And I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, ability, and knowledge in all kinds of craftsmanship,
- Job 9:4 God is wise in heart and mighty in strength. Who has resisted Him and prospered?
- James 1:17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, with whom there is no change or shifting shadow.
- Exodus 36:1 “So Bezalel, Oholiab, and every skilled person are to carry out everything commanded by the LORD, who has given them skill and ability to know how to perform all the work of constructing the sanctuary.”
- Isaiah 28:26 For his God instructs and teaches him properly.