For wrath killeth the foolish man, and envy slayeth the silly one.
The verse belongs to Eliphaz's speech in Job 5, made when Job's friends charged him with sin and claimed his suffering came from sin. Their statements were often generally true but were wrongly applied to Job, for suffering does not prove a person is under God's displeasure or should be discouraged. Eliphaz and the other friends spoke falsely about God and Job, so the statement is not reliable merely because it is recorded in Scripture but must be tested against inspired teaching and rejected where it contradicts the rest of the Bible. The chapter stands as a lesson on how readily people misjudge others.
The "silly one" means the foolish one. Wrath kills the foolish man, and envy slays the silly one, bringing ruin, death, and destruction on the foolish and senseless. Envy is a foolish, ruinous, and useless passion that slays the person who indulges it. It eats away at character, erodes honor, brings misery, can lead to crime, and achieves no benefit, success, or good.
The verse belongs to Eliphaz's speech in Job 5, made when Job's friends charged him with sin and claimed his suffering came from sin. Their statements were often generally true but were wrongly applied to Job, for suffering does not prove a person is under God's displeasure or should be discouraged. Eliphaz and the other friends spoke falsely about God and Job, so the statement is not reliable merely because it is recorded in Scripture but must be tested against inspired teaching and rejected where it contradicts the rest of the Bible. The chapter stands as a lesson on how readily people misjudge others.
The "silly one" means the foolish one. Wrath kills the foolish man, and envy slays the silly one, bringing ruin, death, and destruction on the foolish and senseless. Envy is a foolish, ruinous, and useless passion that slays the person who indulges it. It eats away at character, erodes honor, brings misery, can lead to crime, and achieves no benefit, success, or good.