Job 32:9

9 It is not only the old^[a] who are wise, not only the aged who understand what is right.

Job 32:9 in Other Translations

9 Great men are not always wise: neither do the aged understand judgment.

9 It is not the old who are wise, nor the aged who understand what is right.

9 Sometimes the elders are not wise. Sometimes the aged do not understand justice.

9 The experts have no corner on wisdom; getting old doesn't guarantee good sense.

9 It is not the great that are wise, Nor the aged that understand justice.

9 People do not become wise merely because they live long. They don't understand what justice is merely because they're old.

9 It is not [only] the old who are wise or the elderly who understand how to judge.

9 Older people aren't the only ones who are wise. They aren't the only ones who understand what is right.

Job 32:9 Meaning and Commentary

Job 32:9

Great men are not [always] wise
Men of grandeur and dignity, as Job's friends might be, the rich, the honourable, and noble; the apostle is thought to refer to this, at least to express the sentiment contained in it, ( 1 Corinthians 1:26 ) ; or the great in quantity, the many, the multitude; and therefore are not to be followed in principle or practice; or that are great in years, well stricken in age, have lived long in the world, so some versions ^F17; or are doctors, teachers of others, masters in Israel, as Nicodemus, and yet ignorant; all these may be wise in natural, civil, and worldly things, though this is not always the case; but not wise and knowing in divine and spiritual things, particularly in those respecting the causes and reasons of God's providential dealings with men, afflicting the righteous, and suffering the wicked to prosper, which is more fully explained in the next clause:

neither do the aged understand judgment;
what is right and wrong, the difference between truth and error, and particularly the judgments of God, which are unsearchable, and his ways past finding out; even so to understand them as to observe and acknowledge his sovereignty, wisdom, truth, and faithfulness in them.

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FOOTNOTES:

F17 (Mybr) (polucronioi) , Sept. "longaevi", V. L. Mr. Broughton renders it, "as men of not great time may be wise, as the old understand the right."

Job 32:9 In-Context

7 I thought, ‘Age should speak; advanced years should teach wisdom.’

8 But it is the spirit in a person, the breath of the Almighty, that gives them understanding.

9 It is not only the old who are wise, not only the aged who understand what is right.

10 “Therefore I say: Listen to me; I too will tell you what I know.

11 I waited while you spoke, I listened to your reasoning; while you were searching for words,

Cross References

• 1. 1 Corinthians 1:26
• 2. Psalms 119:100
• 3. S Job 12:12,20; Luke 2:47; 1 Timothy 4:12

Footnotes

• [a]. Or "many" ; or "great"