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as I was in the ripeness of my days, when the friendship of God was in my tent,
Job 29:4 · World English Bible
Parallel translations
  • KJV As I was in the days of my youth, when the secret of God was upon my tabernacle;
  • BSB when I was in my prime, when the friendship of God rested on my tent,
  • NKJV Just as I was in the days of my prime, When the friendly counsel of God was over my tent;
  • NASB Just as I was in the days of my youth, When the protection of God was over my tent;
  • NLT When I was in my prime, God’s friendship was felt in my home.

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 remembers his prime, when the intimate friendship of God filled his home.

Overview

Job describes the height of his flourishing as a time when God's friendship rested on his household. The Hebrew suggests God's confidential, intimate fellowship, a treasured closeness. Such friendship with God is the heart's true blessedness, offered again through Christ, who calls His people friends (John 15:15).

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 7

  • Ps 25:14The friendship of Yahweh is with those who fear him. He will show them his covenant.
  • Prov 3:32For the perverse is an abomination to Yahweh, but his friendship is with the upright.
  • Ps 27:5For in the day of trouble he will keep me secretly in his pavilion. In the covert of his tabernacle he will hide me. He will lift me up on a rock.
  • Job 15:8Have you heard the secret counsel of God? Do you limit wisdom to yourself?
  • Job 1:10Haven’t you made a hedge around him, and around his house, and around all that he has, on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.
  • Ps 91:1He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
  • Col 3:3For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

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 29:4YouTube · 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 29:4 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.