Thou shalt know also that thy seed shall be great, and thine offspring as the grass of the earth.
Parallel translations
- WEB You shall know also that your offspring shall be great, Your offspring as the grass of the earth.
- BSB You will know that your offspring will be many, your descendants like the grass of the earth.
- NKJV You shall also know that your descendants shall be many, And your offspring like the grass of the earth.
- NASB “You will also know that your descendants will be many, And your offspring as the grass of the earth.
- NLT You will have many children; your descendants will be as plentiful as grass!
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
You will know your offspring will be many, like the grass of the earth. It promises abundant, flourishing descendants.
Overview
Eliphaz assures a numerous family, as plentiful as grass, echoing the covenant blessing of fruitfulness. Such promises of offspring were central to ancient hope and to God's covenant with Abraham. The deepest fulfillment comes in Christ, the offspring of Abraham, through whom a countless multitude from every nation become children of the promise.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Ps 112:2His seed shall be mighty upon earth: the generation of the upright shall be blessed.
- Ps 72:16There shall be an handful of corn in the earth upon the top of the mountains; the fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon: and they of the city shall flourish like grass of the earth.
- Deut 28:4Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep.
- Job 42:13–16He had also seven sons and three daughters.
- Gen 15:5And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be.
- Ps 128:3–6Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house: thy children like olive plants round about thy table.
- Ps 127:3–5Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.
- Lev 26:9For I will have respect unto you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you, and establish my covenant with you.
- Isa 44:3–4For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring:
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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 5:25 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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