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Job’s sons would take turns holding feasts in their homes, and they would invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them.
Job 1:4 · Berean Standard Bible
Parallel translations
  • WEB His 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.
  • KJV And his sons went and feasted in their houses, every one his day; and sent and called for their three sisters to eat and to drink with them.
  • NKJV And his sons would go and feast in their houses, each on his appointed day, and would send and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them.
  • NASB His sons used to go and hold a feast in the house of each one on his day, and they would send word and invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them.
  • NLT Job’s sons would take turns preparing feasts in their homes, and they would also invite their three sisters to celebrate with them.

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's grown sons held regular feasts and included their sisters. The picture is of a close, prosperous, and harmonious family.

Overview

The rotating birthday feasts depict a happy household enjoying Job's blessings together. This domestic harmony heightens the coming loss and also prompts Job's priestly concern for his children's souls in the next verse. It reminds readers that earthly joys, however good, are fragile and held in God's hands.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 2

  • Heb 13:1Continue in brotherly love.
  • Ps 133:1A song of ascents. Of David. Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in harmony!

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 1:4YouTube · 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 1:4 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.