“Behold, this is the joy of His way, And out of the earth others will grow.
Parallel translations
- WEB Behold, this is the joy of his way: out of the earth, others shall spring.
- KJV Behold, this is the joy of his way, and out of the earth shall others grow.
- BSB Surely this is the joy of his way; yet others will spring from the dust.
- NASB “Behold, this is the joy of His way; And out of the dust others will spring.
- NLT That’s the end of its life, and others spring up from the earth to replace it.
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
Bildad ironically calls this destruction 'the joy of his way,' for from the same soil others spring up to replace him. The godless are easily supplanted.
Overview
With bitter irony, Bildad says the end of the wicked's path is its only 'joy': he is uprooted and others grow in his place. The fallen are replaced and forgotten. The verse completes the plant parable, stressing that life without God yields no enduring legacy, though Bildad misjudges Job's standing.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Job 20:5that the triumphing of the wicked is short, the joy of the godless but for a moment?
- Ps 113:7He raises up the poor out of the dust. Lifts up the needy from the ash heap;
- 1 Sam 2:8He raises up the poor out of the dust. He lifts up the needy from the dunghill, To make them sit with princes, and inherit the throne of glory. For the pillars of the earth are Yahweh’s. He has set the world on them.
- Matt 13:20–21What was sown on the rocky places, this is he who hears the word, and immediately with joy receives it;
- Ps 75:7But God is the judge. He puts down one, and lifts up another.
- Ezek 17:24All the trees of the field will know that I, Yahweh, have brought down the high tree, have exalted the low tree, have dried up the green tree, and have made the dry tree to flourish. I, Yahweh, have spoken and have done it.’”
- Matt 3:9Don’t think to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father,’ for I tell you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones.
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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 8:19 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.