Lectionary Calendar
Saturday, August 2nd, 2025
the Week of Proper 12 / Ordinary 17
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Read the Bible

Brenton's Septuagint

Job 27:12

Behold, ye all know that ye are adding vanity to vanity.

Bible Study Resources

Dictionaries:

- Holman Bible Dictionary - Vision;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Job;   Providence;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
All of you have seen this for yourselves,why do you keep up this empty talk?
Hebrew Names Version
Behold, all of you have seen it yourselves; Why then have you become altogether vain?
King James Version
Behold, all ye yourselves have seen it; why then are ye thus altogether vain?
English Standard Version
Behold, all of you have seen it yourselves; why then have you become altogether vain?
New Century Version
You have all seen this yourselves. So why are we having all this talk that means nothing?
New English Translation
If you yourselves have all seen this, Why in the world do you continue this meaningless talk?
Amplified Bible
"Behold, all of you have seen it; Why then do you act vainly and foolishly [cherishing worthless concepts]?
New American Standard Bible
"Behold, all of you have seen it; Why then do you talk of nothing?
World English Bible
Behold, all of you have seen it yourselves; Why then have you become altogether vain?
Geneva Bible (1587)
Beholde, all ye your selues haue seene it: why then doe you thus vanish in vanitie?
Legacy Standard Bible
Behold, all of you have seen it;Why then do you speak with utter vanity?
Berean Standard Bible
Surely all of you have seen it for yourselves. Why then do you keep up this empty talk?
Contemporary English Version
All of you have seen these things for yourselves. So you have no excuse.
Complete Jewish Bible
Look, you all can see for yourselves; so why are you talking such empty nonsense?
Darby Translation
Behold, ye yourselves have all seen [it]; and why are ye thus altogether vain?
Easy-to-Read Version
But you have seen it all with your own eyes. So why do you say such useless things?
George Lamsa Translation
Behold, all of you have seen it; why then do you boast in vain?
Good News Translation
But no, after all, you have seen for yourselves; so why do you talk such nonsense?
Lexham English Bible
Look, you all have seen, and why in the world have you become altogether vain?
Literal Translation
Behold, all of you have seen it yourselves; when then do you become vain with this vanity?
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Beholde, ye stonde in yor owne conceate, as though ye knew all thinges. Wherfore then do ye go aboute wt soch vayne wordes,
American Standard Version
Behold, all ye yourselves have seen it; Why then are ye become altogether vain?
Bible in Basic English
Truly, you have all seen it yourselves; why then have you become completely foolish?
JPS Old Testament (1917)
Behold, all ye yourselves have seen it; why then are ye become altogether vain?
King James Version (1611)
Behold, all ye your selues haue seene it, why then are yee thus altogether vaine?
Bishop's Bible (1568)
Behold, all ye your selues haue seene it, why then do ye thus vanishe in vanitie?
English Revised Version
Behold, all ye yourselves have seen it; why then are ye become altogether vain?
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Lo! alle ye knowen, and what speken ye veyn thingis with out cause?
Update Bible Version
Look, all you yourselves have seen it; Why then have you become altogether vain?
Webster's Bible Translation
Behold, all ye yourselves have seen [it]; why then are ye thus altogether vain?
New King James Version
Surely all of you have seen it; Why then do you behave with complete nonsense?
New Living Translation
But you have seen all this, yet you say all these useless things to me.
New Life Bible
All of you have seen it yourselves. Why then do you speak in a foolish way?
New Revised Standard
All of you have seen it yourselves; why then have you become altogether vain?
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Lo! ye, have, all of you, seen, Wherefore, then, is it, that ye are utterly without purpose?
Douay-Rheims Bible
Behold you all know it, and why do you speak vain things without cause?
Revised Standard Version
Behold, all of you have seen it yourselves; why then have you become altogether vain?
Young's Literal Translation
Lo, ye -- all of you -- have seen, And why [is] this -- ye are altogether vain?
New American Standard Bible (1995)
"Behold, all of you have seen it; Why then do you act foolishly?

Contextual Overview

11 Yet now I will tell you what is in the hand of the Lord: I will not lie concerning the things which are with the Almighty. 12 Behold, ye all know that ye are adding vanity to vanity. 13 This is the portion of an ungodly man from the Lord, and the possession of oppressors shall come upon them from the Almighty. 14 And if their children be many, they shall be for slaughter: and if they grow up, they shall beg. 15 And they that survive of him shall utterly perish, and no one shall pity their widows. 16 Even if he should gather silver as earth, and prepare gold as clay; 17 All these things shall the righteous gain, and the truehearted shall possess his wealth. 18 And his house is gone like moths, and like a spider’s web. 19 The rich man shall lie down, and shall not continue: he has opened his eyes, and he is not. 20 Pains have come upon him as water, and darkness has carried him away by night.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

ye yourselves: Job 21:28-30, Ecclesiastes 8:14, Ecclesiastes 9:1-3

altogether: Job 6:25-29, Job 13:4-9, Job 16:3, Job 17:2, Job 19:2, Job 19:3, Job 21:3, Job 26:2-4

Cross-References

Genesis 9:25
And he said, Cursed be the servant Chanaan, a slave shall he be to his brethren.
Genesis 25:27
And the lads grew, and Esau was a man skilled in hunting, dwelling in the country, and Jacob a simple man, dwelling in a house.
Genesis 27:21
And Isaac said to Jacob, Draw night to me, and I will feel thee, son, if thou art my son Esau or not.
Genesis 27:22
And Jacob drew night to his father Isaac, and he felt him, and said, The voice is Jacob’s voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.
Genesis 27:36
And he said, Rightly was his name called Jacob, for lo! this second time has he supplanted me; he has both taken my birthright, and now he has taken my blessing; and Esau said to his father, Hast thou not left a blessing for me, father?
Deuteronomy 27:18
Cursed is he that makes the blind to wander in the way: and all the people shall say, So be it.
Job 12:16
With him are strength and power: he has knowledge and understanding.
Jeremiah 48:10
And Ismael brought back all the people that were left in Massepha, and the king’s daughter, whom the captain of the guard had committed in charge to Godolias the son of Achicam: and he went away beyond the children of Ammon.
Malachi 1:14
And cursed is the man who had the power, and possessed a male in his flock, and whose vow is upon him, and who sacrifices a corrupt thing to the Lord: for I am a great King, saith the Lord Almighty, and my name is glorious among the nations.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Behold, all ye yourselves have seen [it],.... As they were men of observation, at least made great pretensions to it, as well as of age and experience, they must have seen and observed somewhat at least of the above things; they must have seen the wicked, as David afterwards did, spreading himself like a green bay tree, and the hypocrites in easy and flourishing circumstances, and good men labouring under great afflictions and pressures, and Job himself was now an instance of that before their eyes:

why then are ye thus altogether vain? or "become vain in vanity" k; so exceeding vain, so excessively trifling, as to speak and act against the dictates of their own conscience, against their own sense, and what they saw with their own eyes, and advance notions so contrary thereunto; as to affirm that evil men are always punished of God in this life, and good men are succeeded and prospered by him; and so from Job's afflictions drew so vain and empty a conclusion, that he must be a wicked man and an hypocrite.

k הבל תהבלו "vanitate vanescitis", Pagninus, Junius Tremellius, Michaelis, Schultens "[vel] evanescitis", Montanus, Bolducius, Beza, Mercerus, Drusius, Piscator, Cocceius.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Behold, all ye yourselves have seen it - You have had an opportunity of tracing the proofs of the wisdom of God in his works.

Why then are ye thus altogether vain - Why is it that you maintain such opinions - that you evince no more knowledge of his government and plans - that you argue so inconclusively about him and his administration! Why, since you have had an opportunity of observing the course of events, do you maintain that suffering is necessarily a proof of guilt, and that God deals with all people, in this life, according to their character? A close observation of the course of events would have taught you otherwise. Job proceeds to state what he supposes to be the exact truth on the subject, and particularly aims, in the following chapter, to show that the ways of God are inscrutable, and that we cannot be expected to comprehend them, and are not competent to pronounce upon them.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Job 27:12. Ye yourselves have seen it] Your own experience and observation have shown you that the righteous are frequently in affliction, and the wicked in affluence.

Why then are ye thus altogether vain? — The original is very emphatical: הבל תהבלו hebel tehbalu, and well expressed by Mr. Good: "Why then should ye thus babble babblings!" It our language would allow it, we might say vanitize vanity.


 
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