Limitless Word
He prays to God and finds favor; he sees God’s face and shouts for joy, and God restores His righteousness to that man.
Job 33:26 · Berean Standard Bible
Parallel translations
  • WEB He prays to God, and he is favorable to him, so that he sees his face with joy. He restores to man his righteousness.
  • KJV He shall pray unto God, and he will be favourable unto him: and he shall see his face with joy: for he will render unto man his righteousness.
  • NKJV He shall pray to God, and He will delight in him, He shall see His face with joy, For He restores to man His righteousness.
  • NASB Then he will pray to God, and He will accept him, So that he may see His face with joy, And He will restore His righteousness to that person.
  • NLT When he prays to God, he will be accepted. And God will receive him with joy and restore him to good standing.

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

The restored man prays, God receives him with favor, and his righteousness is restored. It shows reconciliation with God as the heart of true deliverance.

Overview

The redeemed man turns to God in prayer and is welcomed, seeing God's face 'with joy' and having his righteous standing restored. This is more than healing; it is renewed fellowship with God. The verse anticipates the gospel reality that through Christ believers are reconciled to God and receive a righteousness not their own (2 Corinthians 5:21).

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 32

  • Ps 50:15Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor Me.”
  • Ps 30:5For His anger is fleeting, but His favor lasts a lifetime. Weeping may stay the night, but joy comes in the morning.
  • Acts 2:28You have made known to me the paths of life; You will fill me with joy in Your presence.’
  • Acts 9:11“Get up!” the Lord told him. “Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying.
  • Isa 30:19O people in Zion who dwell in Jerusalem, you will weep no more. He will surely be gracious when you cry for help; when He hears, He will answer you.
  • Ps 91:15When he calls out to Me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble. I will deliver him and honor him.
  • Jude 1:24Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you unblemished in His glorious presence, with great joy—
  • Jer 33:3Call to Me, and I will answer and show you great and unsearchable things you do not know.
  • Heb 11:26He valued disgrace for Christ above the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking ahead to his reward.
  • Ps 67:1For the choirmaster. With stringed instruments. A Psalm. A song. May God be gracious to us and bless us, and cause His face to shine upon us, Selah
  • Prov 24:12If you say, “Behold, we did not know about this,” does not He who weighs hearts consider it? Does not the One who guards your life know? Will He not repay a man according to his deeds?
  • Ps 116:1–6I love the LORD, for He has heard my voice—my appeal for mercy.
  • 1 Sam 26:23May the LORD repay every man for his righteousness and faithfulness. For the LORD delivered you into my hand today, but I would not stretch out my hand against the LORD’s anointed.
  • Num 6:25–26may the LORD cause His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;
  • 2 Kgs 20:2–5Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD, saying,
  • Matt 10:41–42Whoever receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and whoever receives a righteous man because he is a righteous man will receive a righteous man’s reward.
  • Jonah 2:2–7saying: “In my distress I called to the LORD, and He answered me. From the belly of Sheol I called for help, and You heard my voice.
  • Ps 30:7–11O LORD, You favored me; You made my mountain stand strong. When You hid Your face, I was dismayed.
  • Ps 6:1–9For the choirmaster. With stringed instruments, according to Sheminith. A Psalm of David. O LORD, do not rebuke me in Your anger or discipline me in Your wrath.
  • Job 42:8–9So now, take seven bulls and seven rams, go to My servant Job, and sacrifice a burnt offering for yourselves. Then My servant Job will pray for you, for I will accept his prayer and not deal with you according to your folly. For you have not spoken accurately about Me, as My servant Job has.”
  • Ps 16:11You have made known to me the path of life; You will fill me with joy in Your presence, with eternal pleasures at Your right hand.
  • Ps 41:8–11“A vile disease has been poured into him; he will never get up from where he lies!”
  • Ps 18:20The LORD has rewarded me according to my righteousness; He has repaid me according to the cleanness of my hands.
  • Ps 28:1–2Of David. To You, O LORD, I call; be not deaf to me, O my Rock. For if You remain silent, I will be like those descending to the Pit.
  • Ps 62:12and loving devotion to You, O Lord. For You will repay each man according to his deeds.
  • Job 34:28They caused the cry of the poor to come before Him, and He heard the outcry of the afflicted.
  • Ps 4:6–7Many ask, “Who can show us the good?” Shine the light of Your face upon us, O LORD.
  • 2 Chr 33:12–13And in his distress, Manasseh sought the favor of the LORD his God and earnestly humbled himself before the God of his fathers.
  • Job 22:26–27Surely then you will delight in the Almighty and lift up your face to God.
  • 2 Chr 33:19His prayer and how God received his plea, as well as all his sin and unfaithfulness, and the sites where he built high places and set up Asherah poles and idols before he humbled himself, they are indeed written in the Records of the Seers.
  • Job 34:11For according to a man’s deeds He repays him; according to a man’s ways He brings consequences.
  • Ps 28:6Blessed be the LORD, for He has heard my cry for mercy.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (9)

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 33:26YouTube · 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 33:26 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.