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Now on the day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house,
Job 1:13 · New American Standard Bible
Parallel translations
  • WEB It fell on a day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house,
  • KJV And there was a day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother’s house:
  • BSB One day, while Job’s sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house,
  • NKJV Now there was a day when his sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house;
  • NLT One day when Job’s sons and daughters were feasting at the oldest brother’s house,

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

On an ordinary feast day the calamities begin. The blow falls when life seems most secure and joyful.

Overview

The disaster strikes precisely when Job's children are gathered in celebration, underscoring how suddenly blessing can turn to grief. The everyday setting heightens the tragedy and reminds readers that no earthly security is guaranteed. It calls believers to hold their joys loosely and their God tightly.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 6

  • Luke 21:34“So be careful, or your hearts will be loaded down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that day will come on you suddenly.
  • Prov 27:1Don’t boast about tomorrow; for you don’t know what a day may bring.
  • Job 1:4His sons went and held a feast in the house of each one on his birthday; and they sent and called for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them.
  • Eccl 9:12For man also doesn’t know his time. As the fish that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare, even so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falls suddenly on them.
  • Luke 17:27–29They ate, they drank, they married, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ship, and the flood came, and destroyed them all.
  • Luke 12:19–20I will tell my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years. Take your ease, eat, drink, be merry.”’

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (4)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Job videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Job 1:13YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on JobMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    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 1:13 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.