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“He will yet fill your mouth with laughter, And your lips with joyful shouting.
Job 8:21 · New American Standard Bible
Parallel translations
  • WEB He will still fill your mouth with laughter, your lips with shouting.
  • KJV Till he fill thy mouth with laughing, and thy lips with rejoicing.
  • BSB He will yet fill your mouth with laughter, and your lips with a shout of joy.
  • NKJV He will yet fill your mouth with laughing, And your lips with rejoicing.
  • NLT He will once again fill your mouth with laughter and your lips with shouts of joy.

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 assures Job that God will yet fill his mouth with laughter and his lips with shouts of joy. He holds out hope of restored gladness.

Overview

Bildad's tone softens into promise: if Job repents, joy will return. Strikingly, Job's life does end in restored joy (Job 42), though through God's grace and vindication rather than Bildad's prescribed repentance. The verse points to the truth that God can turn mourning into gladness, fully realized in the gospel's joy.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 11

  • Ps 126:2Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing. Then they said among the nations, “Yahweh has done great things for them.”
  • Gen 21:6Sarah said, “God has made me laugh. Everyone who hears will laugh with me.”
  • Ps 126:6He who goes out weeping, carrying seed for sowing, will certainly come again with joy, carrying his sheaves.
  • Ps 32:11Be glad in Yahweh, and rejoice, you righteous! Shout for joy, all you who are upright in heart!
  • Luke 6:21Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be filled. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.
  • Ezra 3:11–13They sang to one another in praising and giving thanks to Yahweh, “For he is good, for his loving kindness endures forever toward Israel.” All the people shouted with a great shout, when they praised Yahweh, because the foundation of Yahweh’s house had been laid.
  • Isa 65:13–14Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh, “Behold, my servants will eat, but you will be hungry; behold, my servants will drink, but you will be thirsty. Behold, my servants will rejoice, but you will be disappointed;
  • Ps 100:1A Psalm of thanksgiving. Shout for joy to Yahweh, all you lands!
  • Job 5:22At destruction and famine you shall laugh, neither shall you be afraid of the animals of the earth.
  • Neh 12:43They offered great sacrifices that day, and rejoiced; for God had made them rejoice with great joy; and the women and the children also rejoiced; so that the joy of Jerusalem was heard even far away.
  • Ps 98:4Make a joyful noise to Yahweh, all the earth! Burst out and sing for joy, yes, sing praises!

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (1)

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 8:21YouTube · 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 8:21 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.