Job - 15:18



18 (Which wise men have told by their fathers, and have not hidden it;

Verse In-Depth

Explanation and meaning of Job 15:18.

Differing Translations

Compare verses for better understanding.
Which wise men have told from their fathers, and have not hid it:
Wise men confess and hide not their fathers.
Which wise men have told from their fathers, and have not hidden;
Which the wise declare, And have not hid, from their fathers.
(The things which wise men have got from their fathers, and have not kept secret from us;
The wise acknowledge, and they do not leave behind, their fathers,

*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.


Historical Commentaries

Scholarly Analysis and Interpretation.

Which wise men have told from their fathers - Which they have received from their ancestors and communicated to others. Knowledge among the ancients was communicated chiefly by tradition from father to son. They had few or no written records, and hence, they embodied the results of their observation in brief, sententious maxims, and transmitted them from one generation to another.
And have not hid it - They have freely communicated the result of their observations to others.

Which wise men have told from their fathers,.... Men wise in the best sense, not to do evil, but to do good; not worldly wise men, but such who have wisdom, sound wisdom in the inward parts; who are wise to salvation, and who are partakers of divine and spiritual wisdom; and such men, as they would never tell an untruth, so they would never report a false or a foolish thing they had heard, nor any thing but upon a good testimony, what they have received from their fathers, who were also wise and good men; and therefore such a testimony, though not ocular, but by tradition, deserves regard:
and have not hid it; their fathers did not hide it from them, and what they have received from their fathers they did not hide it from their children; and so it came to be handed down from one to another with great truth, exactness, and certainty, and to be depended upon, see Psalm 44:1.

Rather, "and which as handed down from their fathers, they have not concealed."

Hid - They judged it to be so certain and important a truth, that they would not conceal it in their own breasts.

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