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You will laugh at destruction and famine; wild animals will not terrify you.
Job 5:22 · New Living Translation
Parallel translations
  • WEB At destruction and famine you shall laugh, neither shall you be afraid of the animals of the earth.
  • KJV At destruction and famine thou shalt laugh: neither shalt thou be afraid of the beasts of the earth.
  • BSB You will laugh at destruction and famine, and need not fear the beasts of the earth.
  • NKJV You shall laugh at destruction and famine, And you shall not be afraid of the beasts of the earth.
  • NASB “You will laugh at violence and hunger, And you will not be afraid of wild animals.

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

At destruction and famine you can laugh and need not fear wild animals. It pictures the security of one under God's protection.

Overview

Eliphaz describes such confidence that one laughs at calamity and fears no beast. This portrays the peace of those who trust God's keeping. The promise that even creation will not harm the protected echoes the Edenic and ultimately the new-creation hope, when, through Christ, the redeemed will dwell in perfect safety free from every threat.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 6

  • Ezek 34:25I will make with them a covenant of peace, and will cause evil animals to cease out of the land; and they shall dwell securely in the wilderness, and sleep in the woods.
  • Isa 35:9No lion will be there, nor will any ravenous animal go up on it. They will not be found there; but the redeemed will walk there.
  • Ps 91:13You will tread on the lion and cobra. You will trample the young lion and the serpent underfoot.
  • Hos 2:18In that day I will make a covenant for them with the animals of the field, and with the birds of the sky, and with the creeping things of the ground. I will break the bow, the sword, and the battle out of the land, and will make them lie down safely.
  • Isa 65:25The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. Dust will be the serpent’s food. They will not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain,” says Yahweh.
  • 2 Kgs 19:21This is the word that Yahweh has spoken concerning him: ‘The virgin daughter of Zion has despised you and ridiculed you. The daughter of Jerusalem has shaken her head at you.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (2)

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 5:22YouTube · 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 5:22 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.