If they obey and serve him, they shall spend their days in prosperity, and their years in pleasures.
Parallel translations
- WEB If they listen and serve him, they shall spend their days in prosperity, and their years in pleasures.
- BSB If they obey and serve Him, then they end their days in prosperity and their years in happiness.
- NKJV If they obey and serve Him, They shall spend their days in prosperity, And their years in pleasures.
- NASB “If they listen and serve Him, They will end their days in prosperity, And their years in happiness.
- NLT “If they listen and obey God, they will be blessed with prosperity throughout their lives. All their years will be pleasant.
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
If they listen and serve God, they will spend their days in prosperity and pleasant years. Obedience leads to blessing.
Overview
Elihu states the blessed outcome of heeding God's correction: a life of prosperity and well-being. This reflects the general principle, prominent in wisdom literature, that obedience tends toward flourishing (Deut. 30:15-16; Ps. 1). While not an absolute formula in a fallen world, it points to the true and lasting blessedness found in fellowship with God through Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Jer 7:23But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you.
- Isa 1:19If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land:
- Jer 26:13Therefore now amend your ways and your doings, and obey the voice of the LORD your God; and the LORD will repent him of the evil that he hath pronounced against you.
- Deut 4:30When thou art in tribulation, and all these things are come upon thee, even in the latter days, if thou turn to the LORD thy God, and shalt be obedient unto his voice;
- Heb 11:8By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.
- Job 22:23If thou return to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up, thou shalt put away iniquity far from thy tabernacles.
- Jas 5:5Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter.
- Rev 18:7How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.
- Job 22:21Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee.
- Job 42:12So the LORD blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning: for he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she asses.
- Job 11:13–19If thou prepare thine heart, and stretch out thine hands toward him;
- Rom 6:17But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.
- Eccl 9:2–3All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth not: as is the good, so is the sinner; and he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath.
- Job 21:11They send forth their little ones like a flock, and their children dance.
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 36:11 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.