Because thou shalt forget thy misery, and remember it as waters that pass away:
Parallel translations
- WEB for you shall forget your misery. You shall remember it like waters that have passed away.
- BSB For you will forget your misery, recalling it only as waters gone by.
- NKJV Because you would forget your misery, And remember it as waters that have passed away,
- NASB “For you would forget your trouble; Like waters that have passed by, you would remember it.
- NLT You will forget your misery; it will be like water flowing away.
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 says Job would forget his misery, recalling it like waters that have flowed away. He pictures sorrow fully past.
Overview
Zophar promises that restoration would make Job's pain a distant memory, gone like water that has drained off. The image of forgotten grief is appealing, though offered on flawed terms. It echoes a true gospel hope, for God promises a day when former sorrows are remembered no more and every tear is wiped away (Isaiah 65:17; Revelation 21:4).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Isa 65:16That he who blesseth himself in the earth shall bless himself in the God of truth; and he that sweareth in the earth shall swear by the God of truth; because the former troubles are forgotten, and because they are hid from mine eyes.
- Eccl 5:20For he shall not much remember the days of his life; because God answereth him in the joy of his heart.
- Isa 54:9For this is as the waters of Noah unto me: for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth; so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee.
- John 16:21A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world.
- Isa 54:4Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed: neither be thou confounded; for thou shalt not be put to shame: for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood any more.
- Gen 41:51And Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh: For God, said he, hath made me forget all my toil, and all my father’s house.
- Rev 7:14–17And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
- Isa 12:1–2And in that day thou shalt say, O LORD, I will praise thee: though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortedst me.
- Prov 31:7Let him drink, and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more.
- Job 22:11Or darkness, that thou canst not see; and abundance of waters cover thee.
- Gen 9:11And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth.
- Job 6:15My brethren have dealt deceitfully as a brook, and as the stream of brooks they pass away;
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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 11:16 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.