Lectionary Calendar
Tuesday, August 26th, 2025
the Week of Proper 16 / Ordinary 21
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Read the Bible

Geneva Bible

Job 27:12

Beholde, all ye your selues haue seene it: why then doe you thus vanish in vanitie?

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?
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?
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Behold, ye all know that ye are adding vanity to vanity.
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 I will teache you what is in the hande of God, and I wil not conceale that which is with the Almightie. 12 Beholde, all ye your selues haue seene it: why then doe you thus vanish in vanitie? 13 This is the portion of a wicked man with God, and the heritage of tyrants, which they shal receiue of the Almightie. 14 If his children be in great nomber, the sworde shall destroy them, and his posteritie shall not be satisfied with bread. 15 His remnant shall be buried in death, and his widowes shall not weepe. 16 Though he shoulde heape vp siluer as the dust, and prepare rayment as the clay, 17 He may prepare it, but the iust shall put it on, and the innocent shall deuide the siluer. 18 He buildeth his house as the moth, and as a lodge that the watchman maketh. 19 When the rich man sleepeth, he shal not be gathered to his fathers: they opened their eyes, and he was gone. 20 Terrours shal take him as waters, & a tempest shall cary 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 said, Cursed be Canaan: a seruant of seruants shall he be vnto his brethren.
Genesis 25:27
And the boyes grew, and Esau was a cunning hunter, and liued in the fields: but Iaakob was a plaine man, and dwelt in tentes.
Genesis 27:21
Againe sayde Izhak vnto Iaakob, Come neere nowe, that I may feele thee, my sonne, whether thou be that my sonne Esau or not.
Genesis 27:22
Then Iaakob came neere to Izhak his father, and he felt him and sayd, The voyce is Iaakobs voyce, but the hands are the hands of Esau.
Genesis 27:36
Then he sayde, Was hee not iustly called Iaakob? for hee hath deceiued mee these two times: he tooke my birthright, and loe, nowe hath he taken my blessing. Also he sayd, Hast thou not reserued a blessing for me?
Deuteronomy 27:18
Cursed be he that maketh ye blinde go out of the way: And all the people shal say: So be it.
Job 12:16
With him is strength and wisedome: hee that is deceiued, and that deceiueth, are his.
Jeremiah 48:10
Cursed be he that doeth the worke of the Lord negligently, and cursed be he that keepeth backe his sword from blood.
Malachi 1:14
But cursed be the deceiuer, which hath in his flocke a male, & voweth, and sacrificeth vnto ye Lorde a corrupt thing: for I am a great King, sayth the Lord of hostes, and my Name is terrible among the heathen.
2 Corinthians 6:8
By honour, and dishonour, by euill report, and good report, as deceiuers, and yet true:

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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