Job 26:3

How hast thou counselled him that hath no wisdom? and how hast thou plentifully declared the thing as it is?

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
counselled	יָּ֭עַצְתָּ Ya.'atz.ta	H3289	to advise · verb, qal perfect, 2nd person masculine singular
no	לְלֹ֣א le.Lo'	H3808	not (the simple or abs. negation) · preposition + negative particle
wisdom	חָכְמָ֑ה chokh.mah	H2451	wisdom (in a good sense) · noun, common feminine singular absolute
plentifully	לָרֹ֥ב la.Ro	H7230	abundance (in any respect) · preposition + noun, common masculine singular absolute
declared	הוֹדָֽעְתָּ ho.Da.'e.ta	H3045	to know (properly · verb, hiphil perfect, 2nd person masculine singular
is	וְ֝תוּשִׁיָּ֗ה ve.tu.shi.Yah	H8454	support or (by implication) ability · conjunction + noun, common feminine singular absolute

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Job 6:13 Is not my help in me? and is wisdom driven quite from me?
Job 12:3 But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you: yea, who knoweth not such things as these?
Job 13:5 O that ye would altogether hold your peace! and it should be your wisdom.
Job 15:8-10 Hast thou heard the secret of God? and dost thou restrain wisdom to thyself?
Job 17:10 But as for you all, do ye return, and come now: for I cannot find one wise man among you.
Job 32:11-13 Behold, I waited for your words; I gave ear to your reasons, whilst ye searched out what to say.
Job 33:3 My words shall be of the uprightness of my heart: and my lips shall utter knowledge clearly.
Job 33:33 If not, hearken unto me: hold thy peace, and I shall teach thee wisdom.

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Job 26:1-4

One would not have thought that Job, when he was in so much pain and misery, could banter his friend as he does here and make himself merry with the impertinency of his discourse. Bildad thought that he had made a fine speech, that the matter was so weighty, and the language so fine, that he had gained the reputation both of an oracle and of an orator; but Job peevishly enough shows that his performance was not so valuable as he thought it and ridicules him for it. He shows, I. That there was no great matter to be found in it (Job 26:3): How hast thou plentifully declared the thing as it is? This is spoken ironically, upbraiding Bildad with the good conceit he himself had of what he had said…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Job 26:3

plentifully . . . the thing as it is--rather, "abundantly--wisdom." Bildad had made great pretensions to abundant wisdom. How has he shown it?

John Gill on Job 26:3

How hast thou counselled him that hath no wisdom?.... A man deprived of wisdom has need of counsel, and it should be given him; and he does well both to ask and take it; and be it so, as if Job should say, that I am the foolish and unwise creature you take me to be, what counsel and advice have you given me? what a wise counsellor have you shown yourself to be? or rather, what a miserable part have you acted under this character? and how hast thou plentifully declared the thing as it is? the thing in controversy, set it forth in a clear light, and in a copious manner, when he had not said one word about it, namely, concerning the afflictions of the godly, and the prosperity of the wicked; t…

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Tyndale Open Study Notes on Job 26:2

Job’s friends had not helped him (12:2; 16:4). Bildad’s denial that acquittal was possible hit Job’s most sensitive nerve (10:1-7; 13:3, 13-19; 16:18-21; 19:23-27; 23:2-7).

Henry, Jamieson-Fausset-Brown, Clarke, Gill, Calvin and Keil & Delitzsch are in the public domain; Tyndale Open Study Notes © Tyndale House Publishers, CC BY-SA 4.0 — all from the Free Use Bible API (bible.helloao.org). Rashi: the Rosenbaum & Silbermann Pentateuch (public domain) and the Judaica Press and Metsudah Tanakh (CC BY), via Sefaria. Spurgeon's Treasury of David: public domain (lyteword's markdown edition, CC0).

The Church Fathers

To whom hast thou given counsel? perchance to him that hath not wisdom? To 'give counsel to one that is foolish' is an office of charity, to give it to one that is wise, of ostentation; but to give it to Wisdom Itself, of wrongmindedness; and because those who we have said bear the likeness of heretics, by their mode of speech, were administering to ostentation rather than to usefulness, it is yet further added rightly against Bildad, And shewn thine own prudence overmuch. To one to whom there is right prudence it is not overmuch, because according to Paul's declaration, he seeketh not to be wise above the degree that he ought to be wise. But to whomsoever there is overmuch prudence, there is not right prudence. For whilst it is carried beyond due measure, it is made to turn off on one side or another of offence. Now they shew their prudence to be 'overmuch,' who aim to appear fuller of prudence in comparison of others; whence it very frequently happens that whilst they have not the art to be wise in moderation, they even speak things that are foolish. On account of which circumstance, the actual excess of prudence is yet further subjoined.
— Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book XVII

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).