If they are bound in chains and caught up in a web of trouble,
Parallel translations
- WEB If they are bound in fetters, and are taken in the cords of afflictions,
- KJV And if they be bound in fetters, and be holden in cords of affliction;
- BSB And if men are bound with chains, caught in cords of affliction,
- NKJV And if they are bound in fetters, Held in the cords of affliction,
- NASB “And if they are bound in shackles, And are caught in the snares of misery,
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
Even when the righteous are bound in affliction's cords, God has a purpose. Suffering is not abandonment but instruction.
Overview
Elihu introduces a key theme: that God may allow even good people to be caught in chains of affliction for a reason. This begins his argument that suffering can be disciplinary and refining rather than purely punitive. It harmonizes with the New Testament teaching that the Lord disciplines those He loves for their good (Heb. 12:6-11).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Ps 107:10Some sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron,
- Prov 5:22The evil deeds of the wicked ensnare him. The cords of his sin hold him firmly.
- Job 13:27You also put my feet in the stocks, and mark all my paths. You set a bound to the soles of my feet,
- Job 33:18–19He keeps back his soul from the pit, and his life from perishing by the sword.
- Lam 3:9He has walled up my ways with cut stone; he has made my paths crooked.
- Ps 18:5The cords of Sheol were around me. The snares of death came on me.
- Ps 116:3The cords of death surrounded me, the pains of Sheol got a hold of me. I found trouble and sorrow.
- Job 19:6know now that God has subverted me, and has surrounded me with his net.
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 36:8 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
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