“He taketh the wise in their own craftiness: and the counsel of the froward is carried headlong.”
My Notes
What Does Job 5:13 Mean?
Eliphaz quotes a proverb that Paul will later cite in 1 Corinthians 3:19: God catches the wise in their own cleverness. The counsel of those who are twisted ("froward" — devious, crooked) is "carried headlong" — it stumbles over itself, trips on its own machinations, and falls before it reaches its goal.
The image is of someone who is too clever for their own good — whose elaborate scheming becomes the very trap they fall into. It's a principle of divine poetic justice: the mechanism of your manipulation becomes the mechanism of your downfall. Haman's gallows, Pharaoh's army in the sea, Absalom's hair caught in a tree — the pattern is consistent.
Eliphaz applies this principle to Job's situation, implying (incorrectly) that Job must have been engaging in some hidden craftiness. The proverb itself is true — God does catch the wise in their own cleverness. But its application to Job's suffering is wrong. This is the recurring problem with Job's friends: they have correct theology and incorrect application.
Reflection Questions
- 1.When have you seen someone's clever scheme become the very thing that undid them?
- 2.How do you hold a true principle without misapplying it to someone's suffering?
- 3.What comfort does this verse offer when you're the target of someone's manipulation?
- 4.How do you distinguish between divine justice (the schemer falls into their trap) and wrong theology (everyone who suffers deserved it)?
Devotional
God catches clever people in their own traps. The plans they laid to harm others become the plans that destroy themselves. It's one of God's most satisfying forms of justice — letting the schemers scheme their way into their own undoing.
This proverb is genuinely true, even though Eliphaz applies it badly to Job. The Bible is full of examples: Haman hangs on his own gallows. Pharaoh's army drowns in the sea he tried to use as a trap. The religious leaders who plotted Jesus' death actually fulfilled the plan of salvation they were trying to prevent.
There's comfort here for anyone who's been the target of someone's cleverness. The manipulator, the schemer, the person who plays three-dimensional chess with other people's lives — their craftiness is not as secure as they think. God has a pattern of using their own intelligence against them. The rope they're weaving to tie you up is the rope they'll trip over.
But Eliphaz's misapplication also carries a warning: just because this principle is true doesn't mean it explains every bad thing that happens. Job isn't suffering because of hidden craftiness. Sometimes bad things happen to genuinely good people for reasons we can't see. Correct theology misapplied is still dangerous.
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
He taketh the wise in their own craftiness,.... As beasts are taken in a pit, or birds in a snare or net, or with…
He taketh the wise in their own craftiness - This passage is quoted by the apostle Paul in 1Co 3:19, with the usual…
Eliphaz, having touched Job in a very tender part, in mentioning both the loss of his estate and the death of his…
in their own craftiness Quoted by St Paul, 1Co 3:19. This is the only quotation from the Book of Job in the New…
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture