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Wednesday, April 15th, 2026
the Second Week after Easter
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Read the Bible

Green's Literal Translation

Job 15:8

Have you heard the secret counsel of God? And do you limit wisdom to yourself?

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - God Continued...;   Mysteries;   Pride;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Eliphaz;   Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Greatness of God;   Hypocrisy;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Job;   Proverbs, the Book of;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Council, Heavenly;   Job, the Book of;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Do you listen in on the council of God,or have a monopoly on wisdom?
Hebrew Names Version
Have you heard the secret counsel of God? Do you limit wisdom to yourself?
King James Version
Hast thou heard the secret of God? and dost thou restrain wisdom to thyself?
English Standard Version
Have you listened in the council of God? And do you limit wisdom to yourself?
New Century Version
You did not listen in on God's secret council. But you limit wisdom to yourself.
New English Translation
Do you listen in on God's secret council? Do you limit wisdom to yourself?
Amplified Bible
"Do you hear the secret counsel of God, And do you limit [the possession of] wisdom to yourself?
New American Standard Bible
"Do you hear the secret discussion of God, And limit wisdom to yourself?
World English Bible
Have you heard the secret counsel of God? Do you limit wisdom to yourself?
Geneva Bible (1587)
Hast thou heard the secret counsell of God, and doest thou restraine wisedome to thee?
Legacy Standard Bible
Do you hear the secret counsel of God,And cut down wisdom only unto yourself?
Berean Standard Bible
Do you listen in on God's council or limit wisdom to yourself?
Contemporary English Version
Have you ever been present when God's council meets? Do you alone have wisdom?
Complete Jewish Bible
Do you listen in on God's secrets? Do you limit wisdom to yourself?
Darby Translation
Hast thou listened in the secret council of +God? And hast thou absorbed wisdom for thyself?
Easy-to-Read Version
Did you listen to God's secret plans? Do you think you are the only wise person?
George Lamsa Translation
Have you heard of the secrets of God? Has his wisdom been revealed to you?
Good News Translation
Did you overhear the plans God made? Does human wisdom belong to you alone?
Lexham English Bible
Have you listened in God's confidential discussion? And do you limit wisdom to yourself?
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
hast thou herde the secrete councell of God, that all wy?dome is to litle for ye?
American Standard Version
Hast thou heard the secret counsel of God? And dost thou limit wisdom to thyself?
Bible in Basic English
Were you present at the secret meeting of God? and have you taken all wisdom for yourself?
JPS Old Testament (1917)
Dost thou hearken in the council of God? And dost thou restrain wisdom to thyself?
King James Version (1611)
Hast thou heard the secret of God? and doest thou restraine wisedome to thy selfe?
Bishop's Bible (1568)
Hast thou heard the secret counsell of God? and doest thou restraine wysdome to thee?
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Or hast thou heard the ordinance of the Lord? or has God used thee as his counsellor? and has wisdom come only to thee?
English Revised Version
Hast thou heard the secret counsel of God? and dost thou restrain wisdom to thyself?
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Whether thou herdist the counsel of God, and his wisdom is lower than thou?
Update Bible Version
Have you heard the secret counsel of God? And do you limit wisdom to yourself?
Webster's Bible Translation
Hast thou heard the secret of God? and dost thou restrain wisdom to thyself?
New King James Version
Have you heard the counsel of God? Do you limit wisdom to yourself?
New Living Translation
Were you listening at God's secret council? Do you have a monopoly on wisdom?
New Life Bible
Were you there to hear the secret plans of God? Are you the only one who has wisdom?
New Revised Standard
Have you listened in the council of God? And do you limit wisdom to yourself?
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
In the secret council of GOD, hast thou been wont to hearken? Or canst thou attain for thyself unto wisdom?
Douay-Rheims Bible
Hast thou heard God’s counsel, and shall his wisdom be inferior to thee?
Revised Standard Version
Have you listened in the council of God? And do you limit wisdom to yourself?
Young's Literal Translation
Of the secret counsel of God dost thou hear? And withdrawest thou unto thee wisdom?
New American Standard Bible (1995)
"Do you hear the secret counsel of God, And limit wisdom to yourself?

Contextual Overview

1 And Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said: 2 Should a wise man answer with windy knowledge, and fill his belly with the east wind? 3 Should he reason with speech that is not useful, or with words having no profit in them? 4 Yea, you do away with fear, and take away devotion before God. 5 For your iniquity teaches your mouth; and you choose the tongue of the crafty. 6 Your mouth condemns you, and not I; yea, your own lips testify against you. 7 Were you the first man born? Or were you made before the hills? 8 Have you heard the secret counsel of God? And do you limit wisdom to yourself? 9 What do you know that we do not know? Or understand, that is not with us? 10 With us are both the grayheaded and very aged men , mightier than your father as to days.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

the secret: Job 11:6, Deuteronomy 29:29, Psalms 25:14, Proverbs 3:32, Jeremiah 23:18, Amos 3:7, Matthew 11:25, Matthew 13:11, Matthew 13:35, John 15:15, Romans 11:34, Romans 16:25, Romans 16:26, 1 Corinthians 2:9-11, 1 Corinthians 2:16

thou restrain: Job 12:2, Job 13:5, Job 13:6

Reciprocal: Job 5:1 - and to which Job 13:2 - General Job 15:11 - is there Job 26:3 - counselled Job 29:4 - the secret Job 32:13 - We Proverbs 8:25 - General Ezekiel 28:3 - no secret

Cross-References

Genesis 15:2
And Abram said, Lord Jehovah, what will You give to me since I am going childless and the son of the inheritance of my house is Eleazar of Damascus?
Genesis 15:4
And behold! The Word of Jehovah came to him saying, This one shall not be inheriting. But he that shall come forth out of your own bowels shall be your heir.
Genesis 15:9
And He said to him, Take for Me a heifer three years old, and a she-goat three years old, and a ram three years old, and a turtledove, even a nestling.
Genesis 15:10
And he took all these for Him, and he divided them in the middle; and he laid each piece against one another, but he did not divide the bird.
Genesis 15:13
And He said to Abram, Knowing you must know that your seed shall be an alien in a land not theirs; and they shall serve them. And they shall afflict them four hundred years;
Genesis 15:14
and I also will judge that nation whom they shall serve; and afterward they shall come out with great substance.
Genesis 15:17
And it happened, the sun had gone down, and it was dark. Behold! A smoking furnace and a torch of fire that passed between those pieces!
2 Kings 20:8
And Hezekiah said to Isaiah, What will be the sign that Jehovah will heal me, that I will go up on the third day to the house of Jehovah?
Psalms 86:17
Show me a token for good, that those who hate me may see and be ashamed, O Jehovah, because You have helped me and comforted me.
Isaiah 7:11
Ask a sign from Jehovah your God; make deep the request, or make it high above.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Hast thou heard the secret of God?.... Or, "in the secret of God" a, in his cabinet council, what was said and done there? hast thou stood in the council of God? hast thou been one of his privy council, or counsellors, and been let into all the secrets of God, of his purposes and providence, and into the reasons of all his administrations, that thou talkest so freely, and boldly, and confidently as thou dost? Indeed Christ, the son of God, was the Angel of the great council; the counsel of peace was between him and his Father; yea, he was in his bosom, and privy to all his thoughts, designs, and decrees, and knew everything, what would be, and the reasons thereof; as well as the nature of his Father, his perfections, mind, and will, which he has declared: but could Job pretend to this, or anything like it? no, surely. Indeed there are some secrets of God which he makes known to his people, and no doubt, in some measure, Job was acquainted with them; such as the secrets of God's love, and of the covenant of his grace, which are with them that fear him; and such an one Job was, and with whom, in times past at least, the secret of God was, even his everlasting love in the open manifestation of it to him; which is a secret in the heart of God, till revealed and shed abroad in the hearts of his people; and so the "mysteries" of God, as some render the word, the doctrines of the Gospel, the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, the knowledge of them, is given to the sons of men; Job was acquainted with them, with the incarnation of Christ, redemption by him, and the resurrection of the dead; the secrets of Providence, though they may not always be known now, they will be hereafter; yea, God does nothing but he reveals his secrets to his servants the prophets Amos 3:7, as he did to Abraham his friend; and as for the purposes of God, which are the secret things that belong to him, and can never be known unless revealed, and when fulfilled, even those, such as relate to the election of men, their redemption by Christ, and the effectual calling, are made known by God's saving and calling them according to them:

and dost thou restrain wisdom to thyself? not keep it to himself without communicating it to others, which to do is to imprison the truth, and detain it in unrighteousness; as men have freely received, they should freely give; but he arrogated and ascribed wisdom to himself, monopolized it, and would allow no man to have any share of it but himself; he reckoned so highly of himself, as if he was the only wise man in the world; thus what he charged his friends with Eliphaz retorts upon himself, Job 12:2; as he does his own words in

Job 15:9.

a בסוד אלוה "in secreto Dei", Pagninus, Montanus, Cocceius. Schultens.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Hast thou heard the secret of God? - literally, “in the secret of God hast thou heard” - הסוד hasôd. The word rendered “secret” (סוד sôd) means properly a “couch” or “cushion,” on which one reclines - whether for sleep or at a table, or as a divan. Hence, it means a divan, or circle of persons sitting together for familiar conversation, Jeremiah 6:11; Jeremiah 15:17; or of judges, counsellors, or advisers for consultation, as the word “divan” is now used in Oriental countries; Psalms 89:7; Jeremiah 33:18. Then it means any consultation, counsel, familiar conversation, or intimacy; Psalms 55:14; Proverbs 15:22. Here God is represented in Oriental language as seated in a “divan,” or council of state: there is deliberation about the concerns of his government; important questions are agitated and decided; and Eliphaz asks of Job whether he had been admitted to that council, and had heard those deliberations; and whether, if he had not, he was qualified to pronounce as he had done, on the plans and purposes of the Almighty.

And dost thou restrain wisdom to thyself? - Having obtained the secret of that council, art thou now keeping it wholly to thyself - as a prime minister might be supposed to keep the purposes resolved on in the divan? “Hast thou listened in the council of yahweh, and dost thou now reserve all wisdom to thyself?”

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Job 15:8. Hast thou heard the secret of God? — "Hast thou hearkened in God's council?" Wert thou one of the celestial cabinet, when God said, Let US make man in OUR image, and in OUR likeness?

Dost thou restrain wisdom to thyself? — Dost thou wish us to understand that God's counsels were revealed to none but thyself? And dost thou desire that we should give implicit credence to whatsoever thou art pleased to speak? These are all strong sarcastic questions, and apparently uttered with great contempt.


 
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