Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.
Parallel translations
- WEB Haven’t you made a hedge around him, and around his house, and around all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.
- BSB Have You not placed a hedge on every side around him and his household and all that he owns? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land.
- NKJV Have You not made a hedge around him, around his household, and around all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land.
- NASB Have You not made a fence around him and his house and all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land.
- NLT You have always put a wall of protection around him and his home and his property. You have made him prosper in everything he does. Look how rich he is!
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Satan claims Job is godly only because God has hedged and prospered him. He alleges Job's faith is bought by protection and wealth.
Overview
The accuser admits God's protective hedge around Job, his house, and his possessions, ironically testifying to God's faithful care. His argument is that remove the blessings and the piety will vanish. Believers may take comfort that God's hedge of protection is real, while learning that true faith must rest on God Himself and not merely His gifts.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 28
- Ps 34:7The angel of the LORD encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them.
- Zech 2:5For I, saith the LORD, will be unto her a wall of fire round about, and will be the glory in the midst of her.
- 1 Pet 1:5Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
- Deut 28:2–6And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God.
- Prov 10:22The blessing of the LORD, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it.
- Job 31:25If I rejoiced because my wealth was great, and because mine hand had gotten much;
- Zech 2:8For thus saith the LORD of hosts; After the glory hath he sent me unto the nations which spoiled you: for he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye.
- Ps 107:38He blesseth them also, so that they are multiplied greatly; and suffereth not their cattle to decrease.
- Gen 15:1After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.
- Deut 7:13And he will love thee, and bless thee, and multiply thee: he will also bless the fruit of thy womb, and the fruit of thy land, thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep, in the land which he sware unto thy fathers to give thee.
- Gen 26:12Then Isaac sowed in that land, and received in the same year an hundredfold: and the LORD blessed him.
- Ps 90:17And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us: and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it.
- Isa 5:5And now go to; I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard: I will take away the hedge thereof, and it shall be eaten up; and break down the wall thereof, and it shall be trodden down:
- Job 42:12So the LORD blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning: for he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she asses.
- 1 Sam 25:16They were a wall unto us both by night and day, all the while we were with them keeping the sheep.
- Isa 5:2And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it, and also made a winepress therein: and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes.
- Deut 33:27The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms: and he shall thrust out the enemy from before thee; and shall say, Destroy them.
- Gen 30:43And the man increased exceedingly, and had much cattle, and maidservants, and menservants, and camels, and asses.
- Ps 128:1–4Blessed is every one that feareth the LORD; that walketh in his ways.
- Gen 49:25Even by the God of thy father, who shall help thee; and by the Almighty, who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lieth under, blessings of the breasts, and of the womb:
- Ps 71:21Thou shalt increase my greatness, and comfort me on every side.
- Gen 30:30For it was little which thou hadst before I came, and it is now increased unto a multitude; and the LORD hath blessed thee since my coming: and now when shall I provide for mine own house also?
- Job 29:6When I washed my steps with butter, and the rock poured me out rivers of oil;
- Deut 33:11Bless, LORD, his substance, and accept the work of his hands: smite through the loins of them that rise against him, and of them that hate him, that they rise not again.
- Ps 5:12For thou, LORD, wilt bless the righteous; with favour wilt thou compass him as with a shield.
- Gen 39:5And it came to pass from the time that he had made him overseer in his house, and over all that he had, that the LORD blessed the Egyptian’s house for Joseph’s sake; and the blessing of the LORD was upon all that he had in the house, and in the field.
- Job 1:3His substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east.
- Ps 80:12Why hast thou then broken down her hedges, so that all they which pass by the way do pluck her?
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Job's cry for a mediator who can lay his hand on both God and man, and his confidence that 'my Redeemer lives' and will stand on the earth, reaches forward to Jesus the living Redeemer.
How Job 1:10 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.