If thou prepare thine heart, and stretch out thine hands toward him;
Parallel translations
- WEB “If you set your heart aright, stretch out your hands toward him.
- BSB As for you, if you direct your heart and lift up your hands to Him,
- NKJV “If you would prepare your heart, And stretch out your hands toward Him;
- NASB ¶“If you would direct your heart rightly And spread out your hands to Him,
- NLT “If only you would prepare your heart and lift up your hands to him in prayer!
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
Zophar urges Job to set his heart right and stretch out his hands to God. He begins his appeal for repentance.
Overview
Zophar calls Job to prepare his heart and lift his hands in prayer toward God, the posture of contrition and supplication. The counsel sounds pious, yet it wrongly assumes Job's suffering stems from unrepented sin. The call to seek God with the heart is good, but the gospel reminds us that true repentance and right standing are God's gracious gift, not a bargaining chip (Joel 2:13; Acts 5:31).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Ps 88:9Mine eye mourneth by reason of affliction: LORD, I have called daily upon thee, I have stretched out my hands unto thee.
- Ps 143:6I stretch forth my hands unto thee: my soul thirsteth after thee, as a thirsty land. Selah.
- 1 Sam 7:3And Samuel spake unto all the house of Israel, saying, If ye do return unto the LORD with all your hearts, then put away the strange gods and Ashtaroth from among you, and prepare your hearts unto the LORD, and serve him only: and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.
- Ps 78:8And might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation; a generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not stedfast with God.
- Job 8:5–6If thou wouldest seek unto God betimes, and make thy supplication to the Almighty;
- Luke 12:47And that servant, which knew his lord’s will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes.
- Job 22:21–22Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee.
- Ps 68:31Princes shall come out of Egypt; Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands unto God.
- Job 5:8I would seek unto God, and unto God would I commit my cause:
- 2 Chr 12:14And he did evil, because he prepared not his heart to seek the LORD.
- 2 Chr 19:3Nevertheless there are good things found in thee, in that thou hast taken away the groves out of the land, and hast prepared thine heart to seek God.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 11:13 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.