Jeremiah 7:23(v11)but this thing I commanded them, saying, ‘Listen to my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people. Walk in all the way that…
Isaiah 1:19(v11)If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the good of the land;
Jeremiah 26:13(v11)Now therefore amend your ways and your doings, and obey Yahweh your God’s voice; then Yahweh will relent from the evil that he has…
Deuteronomy 4:30(v11)When you are in oppression, and all these things have come on you, in the latter days you shall return to Yahweh your God and listen to his…
Hebrews 11:8(v11)By faith, Abraham, when he was called, obeyed to go out to the place which he was to receive for an inheritance. He went out, not knowing…
Show all 66 cross-references
Job 22:23(v11)If you return to the Almighty, you will be built up, if you put away unrighteousness far from your tents.
James 5:5(v11)You have lived in luxury on the earth, and taken your pleasure. You have nourished your hearts as in a day of slaughter.
Job 22:21(v11)“Acquaint yourself with him, now, and be at peace. By it, good will come to you.
Revelation 18:7(v11)However much she glorified herself, and grew wanton, so much give her of torment and mourning. For she says in her heart, ‘I sit a queen,…
Job 11:13-19(v11)“If you set your heart aright, stretch out your hands toward him. If iniquity is in your hand, put it far away. Don’t let unrighteousness…
Job 42:12(v11)So Yahweh blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning. He had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, one thousand yoke of…
Ecclesiastes 9:2-3(v11)All things come alike to all. There is one event to the righteous and to the wicked; to the good, to the clean, to the unclean, to him who…
Romans 6:17(v11)But thanks be to God, that, whereas you were bondservants of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you…
Job 4:21(v12)Isn’t their tent cord plucked up within them? They die, and that without wisdom.’
Job 21:11(v11)They send out their little ones like a flock. Their children dance.
Job 36:15(v10)He delivers the afflicted by their affliction, and opens their ear in oppression.
Psalms 107:10(v8)Some sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron,
Proverbs 5:22(v8)The evil deeds of the wicked ensnare him. The cords of his sin hold him firmly.
Isaiah 3:11(v12)Woe to the wicked! Disaster is upon them; for the deeds of his hands will be paid back to him.
Isaiah 55:6-7(v10)Seek Yahweh while he may be found. Call on him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Let…
Matthew 3:8(v10)Therefore produce fruit worthy of repentance!
Romans 2:8-9(v12)but to those who are self-seeking, and don’t obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, will be wrath, indignation, oppression, and anguish…
1 Corinthians 11:32(v9)But when we are judged, we are punished by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world.
Deuteronomy 18:15-22(v12)Yahweh your God will raise up to you a prophet from among you, of your brothers, like me. You shall listen to him. This is according to all…
Deuteronomy 29:15-20(v12)but with those who stand here with us today before Yahweh our God, and also with those who are not here with us today (for you know how we…
2 Kings 17:13(v10)Yet Yahweh testified to Israel, and to Judah, by every prophet, and every seer, saying, “Turn from your evil ways, and keep my commandments…
Job 15:25(v9)Because he has stretched out his hand against God, and behaves himself proudly against the Almighty,
Job 33:16-23(v10)Then he opens the ears of men, and seals their instruction, that he may withdraw man from his purpose, and hide pride from man. He keeps…
Psalms 119:71(v9)It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I may learn your statutes.
Proverbs 8:4-5(v10)“I call to you men! I send my voice to the sons of mankind. You simple, understand prudence! You fools, be of an understanding heart!
Isaiah 1:16-20(v10)Wash yourselves. Make yourself clean. Put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes. Cease to do evil. Learn to do well. Seek…
Isaiah 1:20(v12)but if you refuse and rebel, you will be devoured with the sword; for the mouth of Yahweh has spoken it.”
Isaiah 48:17(v10)Yahweh, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel says: “I am Yahweh your God, who teaches you to profit, who leads you by the way that you…
Isaiah 50:5(v10)The Lord Yahweh has opened my ear. I was not rebellious. I have not turned back.
John 8:21-24(v12)Jesus said therefore again to them, “I am going away, and you will seek me, and you will die in your sins. Where I go, you can’t come.” The…
Deuteronomy 4:21-22(v9)Furthermore Yahweh was angry with me for your sakes, and swore that I should not go over the Jordan, and that I should not go in to that…
2 Chronicles 33:11-13(v9)Therefore Yahweh brought on them the captains of the army of the king of Assyria, who took Manasseh in chains, bound him with fetters, and…
Job 10:2(v9)I will tell God, ‘Do not condemn me. Show me why you contend with me.
Job 13:27(v8)You also put my feet in the stocks, and mark all my paths. You set a bound to the soles of my feet,
Job 15:22(v12)He doesn’t believe that he will return out of darkness. He is waited for by the sword.
Job 19:6(v8)know now that God has subverted me, and has surrounded me with his net.
Job 33:18-19(v8)He keeps back his soul from the pit, and his life from perishing by the sword. He is chastened also with pain on his bed, with continual…
Psalms 5:10(v9)Hold them guilty, God. Let them fall by their own counsels. Thrust them out in the multitude of their transgressions, for they have…
Psalms 18:5(v8)The cords of Sheol were around me. The snares of death came on me.
Psalms 40:6(v10)Sacrifice and offering you didn’t desire. You have opened my ears. You have not required burnt offering and sin offering.
Psalms 94:12(v9)Blessed is the man whom you discipline, Yah, and teach out of your law,
Psalms 116:3(v8)The cords of death surrounded me, the pains of Sheol got a hold of me. I found trouble and sorrow.
Psalms 119:67(v9)Before I was afflicted, I went astray; but now I observe your word.
Proverbs 1:22-23(v10)“How long, you simple ones, will you love simplicity? How long will mockers delight themselves in mockery, and fools hate knowledge? Turn…
Proverbs 9:4-6(v10)“Whoever is simple, let him turn in here!” As for him who is void of understanding, she says to him, “Come, eat some of my bread, Drink…
Isaiah 48:8(v10)Yes, you didn’t hear. Yes, you didn’t know. Yes, from of old your ear was not opened, for I knew that you dealt very treacherously, and…
Isaiah 59:12(v9)For our transgressions are multiplied before you, and our sins testify against us; for our transgressions are with us, and as for our…
Jeremiah 4:3-4(v10)For Yahweh says to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem, “Break up your fallow ground, and don’t sow among thorns. Circumcise yourselves to…
Jeremiah 7:3-7(v10)Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel says, “Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place. Don’t trust in…
Lamentations 3:9(v8)He has walled up my ways with cut stone. He has made my paths crooked.
Lamentations 3:39-40(v9)Why does a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins? Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to Yahweh.
Ezekiel 18:28-31(v9)Because he considers, and turns away from all his transgressions that he has committed, he shall surely live. He shall not die. Yet the…
Ezekiel 18:30-31(v10)“Therefore I will judge you, house of Israel, everyone according to his ways,” says the Lord Yahweh. “Return, and turn yourselves from all…
Hosea 14:1(v10)Israel, return to Yahweh your God; for you have fallen because of your sin.
Luke 15:17-19(v9)But when he came to himself he said, ‘How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough to spare, and I’m dying with hunger! I will…
Acts 3:19(v10)“Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, so that there may come times of refreshing from the presence of the…
Acts 16:14(v10)A certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, one who worshiped God, heard us. The Lord opened her heart to…
Acts 17:30(v10)The times of ignorance therefore God overlooked. But now he commands that all people everywhere should repent,
Romans 5:20(v9)The law came in that the trespass might abound; but where sin abounded, grace abounded more exceedingly;
1 Timothy 1:15(v9)The saying is faithful and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.
James 4:8(v10)Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners. Purify your hearts, you double-minded.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (17 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Geneva Bible translators1599 · Public DomainOn vv9, 12He will move their hearts to feel their sins…
He will move their hearts to feel their sins that they may come to him by repentance as he did Manasseh.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp1656 · Public DomainOn vv8–12Job 36:8 And if [they be] bound in fetters,…
Job 36:8 And if [they be] bound in fetters, [and] be holden in cords of affliction;
Ver. 8. And if they be bound in fetters] If it so happens, that through abuse of their prosperity and preferment, they wander, as they are men, out of the right way, and God sends out afflictions as his pursuivants to attack them, and lay them in cold irons for their correction, and to prevent judgment, Psa 107:10.
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And be holden in cords of affliction] Or poverty; so that irretiti funibus misere vixerint (as the Tigurines here translate), they have only prisoners’ pittances, which will neither keep them alive nor suffer them to die.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole1685 · Public DomainOn vv8–12If through the vicissitude of worldly affairs, and the…
If through the vicissitude of worldly affairs, and the righteous judgment of God upon them for their sins, they be brought from their throne into a prison, as sometimes hath been done.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill1763 · Public DomainOn vv8–12And if they be bound in fetters,.... Not the…
And if they be bound in fetters,.... Not the wicked, as the Targum, but the righteous spoken of in Job 36:7, with which this is closely connected; and this is not to be understood of righteous kings on the throne in particular, or their special favourites, but of the righteous in general; and not in a literal sense, of their bonds and imprisonment for religion and righteousness sake, which is sometimes their lot; but in a figurative sense, of afflictions, as chastenings and corrections for sin, as appears by the next clause; and the design is to obviate an objection, and to show that the eye of God is upon them, and his heart towards them; and they are not the less objects of his love and delight, of his value and esteem, care and protection, though they are afflicted by him, and, as it may seem, used with some severity; seeing he has gracious ends and designs in all this, which are suggested in the following verses;
and be holden in cords of affliction; righteous men are not exempt from afflictions; the afflictions of the righteous are many, according to divine appointment, the covenant of grace, the declaration of God, the constant experience of good men, it being the way in which they are all led, and must enter into the kingdom; and the metaphor here used shows that afflictions are sometimes heavy upon them, like fetters and chains, and those made heavy by the hand of God pressing them sore, Lam 3:7; no affliction is joyous, but grievous and heavy in itself; it is indeed comparatively light when viewed with the weight of glory; and God can make a heavy affliction light with his presence, and the discoveries of his love; but they are heavy to the flesh, as Job felt his to be, Job 6:2; and, like fetters and cords, they cannot free themselves from them, or loose them, until it is the pleasure of God to take them off; and moreover by these they are sometimes held and restrained from going into more or greater sins, which is one use of them: as they are with afflictions hedged about that they cannot come out, any more than a person bound fast in a prison; so they are hedged up with thorns that they cannot go out after their lovers, Lam 3:7, Hos 2:6. Some render the phrase, "cords of poverty" (l); it is oftentimes the case of righteous persons to be poor, and to be sadly hampered with poverty, and out of which, by all that they can do, cannot extricate themselves; and sometimes they fall into it, and are held in it, after they have enjoyed much worldly prosperity, which was the case of Job. Mr. Broughton renders it, cords of anguish; and indeed the word for "cords" is used of the pains of a woman in travail, who has then great anguish and trouble; and anguish on various accounts lays hold on the righteous, and they are holden thereby, and cannot relieve themselves, Psa 119:143; and yet this is all in mercy, and to answer some good ends and purposes, as follow.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley1765 · Public DomainOn vv8–10If - Through the vicissitude of worldly affairs, they…
If - Through the vicissitude of worldly affairs, they are brought from their throne into a prison, as sometimes hath been done.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke1810 · Public DomainOn vv8–12Verse 8. And if they be bound in fetters]…
Verse 8. And if they be bound in fetters] These are means which God uses, not of punishment, but of correction.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson1811 · Public DomainOn vv8, 11Job 36:8-10. If they be bound in fetters —…
Job 36:8-10. If they be bound in fetters — If, through the vicissitude of worldly affairs, they are brought from their throne into a prison, as sometimes hath been done. Then he showeth them their work — Their evil works: by these afflictions he brings them to a sight of their sins; that then have exceeded — That they have greatly sinned by abusing their power and prosperity, which even good men are too prone to do. He openeth also, &c. — He inclines them to hearken to what God speaks by his rod, who would not hear in the time of their prosperity; namely, to hear the rod and him that hath appointed it; and commandeth — Either by his word or Spirit accompanying this affliction, and discovering the design of God in this dispensation; that they return from iniquity — The chief cause of their calamity and trouble.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes1834 · Public DomainOn vv8–12And if they be bound in fetters - That…
And if they be bound in fetters - That is, if the righteous are thrown into prison, and are subjected to oppressions and trials, or if they are chained down, as it were, on a bed of pain, or crushed by heavy calamities, the eye of God is still upon them. Their sufferings should not be regarded either as proof that they are hypocrites, or that God is regardless of them, and is indifferent whether people are good or evil. The true solution of the difficulty was, that God was then accomplishing purposes of discipline, and that happy results would follow if they would receive affliction in a proper manner.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary1859 · Public DomainOn vv9, 10, 12Violent, while in power and on the throne, or…
Violent, while in power and on the throne, or because even in a private station, their will has risen up in rebellion against God. (Haydock) --- Poverty and afflictions are scourges, which are often inflicted by mercy, to bring us to a sense of duty. (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown1871 · Public DomainOn vv8–12If they be afflicted, it is no proof that…
If they be afflicted, it is no proof that they are hypocrites, as the friends maintain, or that God disregards them, and is indifferent whether men are good or bad, as Job asserts: God is thereby "disciplining them," and "showing them their sins," and if they bow in a right spirit under God's visiting hand, the greatest blessings ensue.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon1874 · Public DomainOn vv8–12Strophe b — The sufferings the righteous experience are…
Strophe b — The sufferings the righteous experience are intended to be restorative, and at the same time to promote temporal and spiritual prosperity; failing of this, they entail destruction, Job_36:8-12.
8. Fetters and cords are used in a figurative sense. Arab writers, cited by Hitzig, formulate the thought thus: — “Sickness is God’s prison on the earth.” However lofty the elevation of the righteous, he is not beyond the afflictive hand of God; nay, quite as certainly as upon the lowliest shall the gathered clouds of adversity burst upon the heads of the highest, in order that their souls may also be severed and won from the deleterious influences of worldly prosperity. These glowing words (Job_36:8-12) have an oblique reference to Job. In the view of Elihu affliction is the voice of God to the soul, “not in anger, nor in wrath,” but in love. The contrast between the views of Elihu and those of “the friends,” as to the design of affliction, is most marked.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges1878 · Public DomainOn vv8, 9, 118. The expression “fetters” is rather to be taken…
8. The expression “fetters” is rather to be taken figuratively, meaning affliction or adversity, as “cords of affliction” in the next clause suggests.
8–10. If life often appears to present a different picture and men are seen in affliction, this affliction is a discipline, needful to warn them and bring their evil before them.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers1878 · Public DomainOn vv9, 11(9) Then he sheweth them their work.—The true nature…
(9) Then he sheweth them their work.—The true nature of their conduct and their transgressions, that they have behaved themselves proudly. This is Elihu’s special doctrine, that God’s chastisements are by way of discipline, to reform the future rather than to chastise the past.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary1880 · Public DomainOn vv8–12And if they be bound in fetters, and be…
And if they be bound in fetters, and be holden in cords of affliction. On the other hand, there are doubtless eases where the righteous suffer adversity are even "bound in fetters," and "holden in cords of affliction". (Gen_39:20 Jer_40:1 Dan_3:21 Mat_14:3 Act_12:6 Act_16:24 Act_24:27, etc.) But even here God"s vigilance is not relaxed. On the contrary, he watches with the utmost care over their afflictions, apportioning them according to the needs of each, and making every possible effort, by means of them, to work their reformation (see the two following verses).
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator1887 · Public DomainOn vv9–10Then He sheweth them their work, and their transgression…
Job_36:9
Then He sheweth them their work, and their transgression that they have exceeded.
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Showing up our transgressions
I. General remarks on the text.
1. Sin is properly attributable to man. It is their work. If God suffers moral evil to exist, He is not the author of it. Satan may tempt, but cannot constrain to the commission of sin. The whole guilt of it lies upon the offender. It first exists as simple apprehension, is then approved, and, being conceived in the heart, it brings forth actual transgression, until it is finished in death.
2. It is the prerogative of God effectually to convince men of sin; or, to show unto them their work. No man ever saw his sinfulness in a proper light until it was thus discovered to him.
3. The Lord frequently imparts this knowledge in a season of affliction: then it shows unto men their work. It was in deep adversity that Job was made to possess the iniquities of his youth, to recollect what had been long forgotten, and to feel the burden of his guilt.
4. The knowledge of our sinfulness is necessary to true repentance, and to our believing in Christ for eternal life. Sorrow for sin, confessing and forsaking it, will be the immediate effect. An irreconcilable hatred to sin, and an earnest desire to have it mortified and subdued, will be the necessary consequence of a true conviction of its evil nature.
II. In what respects the Lord may be said to show unto men their transgressions.
1. He makes known to them the fact that they are sinners, and that their transgressions are their own.
2. The Lord convinces them not only of the fact, but also of the evil of sin, and causes them to repent of that, as well as of its consequences.
3. When persons are truly convinced Of sin, the Lord not only shows them their work end their transgression, but also that they have exceeded. They are made to see that they have sinned with a high hand. God employs various means, and accompanies them with various effects. God often renews the discovery of sin in our later experience. (B. Beddom,, M. A.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0On vv8, 10If they are bound in chains
If they are bound in chains
Here the word "they" refers righteous people whom God will discipline if they sin. This can be stated in active form. AT: "If someone binds them in chains" or "If someone makes them a prisoner" (See: Active or Passive)
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trapped in cords of suffering
Elihu speaks of a person being made to suffer as if that person were trapped in ropes that cause suffering. AT: "someone causes them to suffer" (See: Metaphor and Active or Passive)
their transgressions and their pride
The verb may be supplied from the previous phrase. AT: "he reveals to them their transgressions and their pride" (See: Ellipsis)
Tyndale Open Study Notes2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0On vv11–1236:11 If they listen and obey God, they will…
36:11 If they listen and obey God, they will be blessed: This is a valid biblical principle of repentance (see 11:13-19; 22:21-25; Deut 4:30; Jer 7:23; 26:13).
GEBible — Godless Engineer's Bible App
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv9, 12 He will move their hearts to feel their sins…
He will move their hearts to feel their sins that they may come to him by repentance as he did Manasseh.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv8–12 Job 36:8 And if [they be] bound in fetters,…
Job 36:8 And if [they be] bound in fetters, [and] be holden in cords of affliction;
Ver. 8. And if they be bound in fetters] If it so happens, that through abuse of their prosperity and preferment, they wander, as they are men, out of the right way, and God sends out afflictions as his pursuivants to attack them, and lay them in cold irons for their correction, and to prevent judgment, Psa 107:10.
Read full note →
And be holden in cords of affliction] Or poverty; so that irretiti funibus misere vixerint (as the Tigurines here translate), they have only prisoners’ pittances, which will neither keep them alive nor suffer them to die.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv8–12 If through the vicissitude of worldly affairs, and the…
If through the vicissitude of worldly affairs, and the righteous judgment of God upon them for their sins, they be brought from their throne into a prison, as sometimes hath been done.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv8–12 And if they be bound in fetters,.... Not the…
And if they be bound in fetters,.... Not the wicked, as the Targum, but the righteous spoken of in Job 36:7, with which this is closely connected; and this is not to be understood of righteous kings on the throne in particular, or their special favourites, but of the righteous in general; and not in a literal sense, of their bonds and imprisonment for religion and righteousness sake, which is sometimes their lot; but in a figurative sense, of afflictions, as chastenings and corrections for sin, as appears by the next clause; and the design is to obviate an objection, and to show that the eye of God is upon them, and his heart towards them; and they are not the less objects of his love and delight, of his value and esteem, care and protection, though they are afflicted by him, and, as it may seem, used with some severity; seeing he has gracious ends and designs in all this, which are suggested in the following verses;
and be holden in cords of affliction; righteous men are not exempt from afflictions; the afflictions of the righteous are many, according to divine appointment, the covenant of grace, the declaration of God, the constant experience of good men, it being the way in which they are all led, and must enter into the kingdom; and the metaphor here used shows that afflictions are sometimes heavy upon them, like fetters and chains, and those made heavy by the hand of God pressing them sore, Lam 3:7; no affliction is joyous, but grievous and heavy in itself; it is indeed comparatively light when viewed with the weight of glory; and God can make a heavy affliction light with his presence, and the discoveries of his love; but they are heavy to the flesh, as Job felt his to be, Job 6:2; and, like fetters and cords, they cannot free themselves from them, or loose them, until it is the pleasure of God to take them off; and moreover by these they are sometimes held and restrained from going into more or greater sins, which is one use of them: as they are with afflictions hedged about that they cannot come out, any more than a person bound fast in a prison; so they are hedged up with thorns that they cannot go out after their lovers, Lam 3:7, Hos 2:6. Some render the phrase, "cords of poverty" (l); it is oftentimes the case of righteous persons to be poor, and to be sadly hampered with poverty, and out of which, by all that they can do, cannot extricate themselves; and sometimes they fall into it, and are held in it, after they have enjoyed much worldly prosperity, which was the case of Job. Mr. Broughton renders it, cords of anguish; and indeed the word for "cords" is used of the pains of a woman in travail, who has then great anguish and trouble; and anguish on various accounts lays hold on the righteous, and they are holden thereby, and cannot relieve themselves, Psa 119:143; and yet this is all in mercy, and to answer some good ends and purposes, as follow.
Read full note →
(l) "funibus paupertatis", Mercerus, Drusius; "funibus inopiae", Cocceius.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv8–10 If - Through the vicissitude of worldly affairs, they…
If - Through the vicissitude of worldly affairs, they are brought from their throne into a prison, as sometimes hath been done.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv8–12 Verse 8. And if they be bound in fetters]…
Verse 8. And if they be bound in fetters] These are means which God uses, not of punishment, but of correction.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv8, 11 Job 36:8-10. If they be bound in fetters —…
Job 36:8-10. If they be bound in fetters — If, through the vicissitude of worldly affairs, they are brought from their throne into a prison, as sometimes hath been done. Then he showeth them their work — Their evil works: by these afflictions he brings them to a sight of their sins; that then have exceeded — That they have greatly sinned by abusing their power and prosperity, which even good men are too prone to do. He openeth also, &c. — He inclines them to hearken to what God speaks by his rod, who would not hear in the time of their prosperity; namely, to hear the rod and him that hath appointed it; and commandeth — Either by his word or Spirit accompanying this affliction, and discovering the design of God in this dispensation; that they return from iniquity — The chief cause of their calamity and trouble.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv8–12 And if they be bound in fetters - That…
And if they be bound in fetters - That is, if the righteous are thrown into prison, and are subjected to oppressions and trials, or if they are chained down, as it were, on a bed of pain, or crushed by heavy calamities, the eye of God is still upon them. Their sufferings should not be regarded either as proof that they are hypocrites, or that God is regardless of them, and is indifferent whether people are good or evil. The true solution of the difficulty was, that God was then accomplishing purposes of discipline, and that happy results would follow if they would receive affliction in a proper manner.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv9, 10, 12 Violent, while in power and on the throne, or…
Violent, while in power and on the throne, or because even in a private station, their will has risen up in rebellion against God. (Haydock) --- Poverty and afflictions are scourges, which are often inflicted by mercy, to bring us to a sense of duty. (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv8–12 If they be afflicted, it is no proof that…
If they be afflicted, it is no proof that they are hypocrites, as the friends maintain, or that God disregards them, and is indifferent whether men are good or bad, as Job asserts: God is thereby "disciplining them," and "showing them their sins," and if they bow in a right spirit under God's visiting hand, the greatest blessings ensue.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv8–12 Strophe b — The sufferings the righteous experience are…
Strophe b — The sufferings the righteous experience are intended to be restorative, and at the same time to promote temporal and spiritual prosperity; failing of this, they entail destruction, Job_36:8-12.
8. Fetters and cords are used in a figurative sense. Arab writers, cited by Hitzig, formulate the thought thus: — “Sickness is God’s prison on the earth.” However lofty the elevation of the righteous, he is not beyond the afflictive hand of God; nay, quite as certainly as upon the lowliest shall the gathered clouds of adversity burst upon the heads of the highest, in order that their souls may also be severed and won from the deleterious influences of worldly prosperity. These glowing words (Job_36:8-12) have an oblique reference to Job. In the view of Elihu affliction is the voice of God to the soul, “not in anger, nor in wrath,” but in love. The contrast between the views of Elihu and those of “the friends,” as to the design of affliction, is most marked.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv8, 9, 11 8. The expression “fetters” is rather to be taken…
8. The expression “fetters” is rather to be taken figuratively, meaning affliction or adversity, as “cords of affliction” in the next clause suggests.
8–10. If life often appears to present a different picture and men are seen in affliction, this affliction is a discipline, needful to warn them and bring their evil before them.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv9, 11 (9) Then he sheweth them their work.—The true nature…
(9) Then he sheweth them their work.—The true nature of their conduct and their transgressions, that they have behaved themselves proudly. This is Elihu’s special doctrine, that God’s chastisements are by way of discipline, to reform the future rather than to chastise the past.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv8–12 And if they be bound in fetters, and be…
And if they be bound in fetters, and be holden in cords of affliction. On the other hand, there are doubtless eases where the righteous suffer adversity are even "bound in fetters," and "holden in cords of affliction". (Gen_39:20 Jer_40:1 Dan_3:21 Mat_14:3 Act_12:6 Act_16:24 Act_24:27, etc.) But even here God"s vigilance is not relaxed. On the contrary, he watches with the utmost care over their afflictions, apportioning them according to the needs of each, and making every possible effort, by means of them, to work their reformation (see the two following verses).
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv9–10 Then He sheweth them their work, and their transgression…
Job_36:9
Then He sheweth them their work, and their transgression that they have exceeded.
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Showing up our transgressions
I. General remarks on the text.
1. Sin is properly attributable to man. It is their work. If God suffers moral evil to exist, He is not the author of it. Satan may tempt, but cannot constrain to the commission of sin. The whole guilt of it lies upon the offender. It first exists as simple apprehension, is then approved, and, being conceived in the heart, it brings forth actual transgression, until it is finished in death.
2. It is the prerogative of God effectually to convince men of sin; or, to show unto them their work. No man ever saw his sinfulness in a proper light until it was thus discovered to him.
3. The Lord frequently imparts this knowledge in a season of affliction: then it shows unto men their work. It was in deep adversity that Job was made to possess the iniquities of his youth, to recollect what had been long forgotten, and to feel the burden of his guilt.
4. The knowledge of our sinfulness is necessary to true repentance, and to our believing in Christ for eternal life. Sorrow for sin, confessing and forsaking it, will be the immediate effect. An irreconcilable hatred to sin, and an earnest desire to have it mortified and subdued, will be the necessary consequence of a true conviction of its evil nature.
II. In what respects the Lord may be said to show unto men their transgressions.
1. He makes known to them the fact that they are sinners, and that their transgressions are their own.
2. The Lord convinces them not only of the fact, but also of the evil of sin, and causes them to repent of that, as well as of its consequences.
3. When persons are truly convinced Of sin, the Lord not only shows them their work end their transgression, but also that they have exceeded. They are made to see that they have sinned with a high hand. God employs various means, and accompanies them with various effects. God often renews the discovery of sin in our later experience. (B. Beddom,, M. A.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv8, 10 If they are bound in chains
If they are bound in chains
Here the word "they" refers righteous people whom God will discipline if they sin. This can be stated in active form. AT: "If someone binds them in chains" or "If someone makes them a prisoner" (See: Active or Passive)
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trapped in cords of suffering
Elihu speaks of a person being made to suffer as if that person were trapped in ropes that cause suffering. AT: "someone causes them to suffer" (See: Metaphor and Active or Passive)
their transgressions and their pride
The verb may be supplied from the previous phrase. AT: "he reveals to them their transgressions and their pride" (See: Ellipsis)
translationWords
bind
reveal
transgress
proud
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv11–12 36:11 If they listen and obey God, they will…
36:11 If they listen and obey God, they will be blessed: This is a valid biblical principle of repentance (see 11:13-19; 22:21-25; Deut 4:30; Jer 7:23; 26:13).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.