Limitless Word
Seven sons and three daughters were born to him.
Job 1:2 · New American Standard Bible
Parallel translations
  • WEB There were born to him seven sons and three daughters.
  • KJV And there were born unto him seven sons and three daughters.
  • BSB He had seven sons and three daughters,
  • NKJV And seven sons and three daughters were born to him.
  • NLT He had seven sons and three daughters.

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

Job had seven sons and three daughters, signs of God's blessing in the ancient world. The numbers suggest a full, complete family.

Overview

Children were regarded as a heritage from the Lord, and Job's large family marks him as richly favored. Seven and three together (ten) convey completeness, underscoring how much he has to lose. The verse quietly sets up the tragedy that will test whether Job serves God for God's own sake or for His gifts.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 6

  • Ps 127:3–5Behold, children are a heritage of Yahweh. The fruit of the womb is his reward.
  • Job 42:13He had also seven sons and three daughters.
  • Esth 5:11Haman recounted to them the glory of his riches, the multitude of his children, all the things in which the king had promoted him, and how he had advanced him above the princes and servants of the king.
  • Ps 107:38He blesses them also, so that they are multiplied greatly. He doesn’t allow their livestock to decrease.
  • Ps 128:3Your wife will be as a fruitful vine, in the innermost parts of your house; your children like olive plants, around your table.
  • Job 13:13“Be silent, leave me alone, that I may speak. Let come on me what will.

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 1:2YouTube · 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 1:2 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.