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Thursday, August 21st, 2025
the Week of Proper 15 / Ordinary 20
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Contemporary English Version

Job 36:8

But when people are prisoners of suffering and pain,

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Afflictions and Adversities;   Cord;   Righteous;   Rope;   The Topic Concordance - Death;   Deliverance;   Disobedience;   God;   Hearing;   Obedience;   Perishing;   Poverty;   Prosperity;   Righteousness;   Service;   Wrath;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Afflictions Made Beneficial;  

Dictionaries:

- Fausset Bible Dictionary - Joseph;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Job, the Book of;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Fetters;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Elihu;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Affliction;   Cord;   Fetter;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Cruelty;   Fetters;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
If people are bound with chainsand trapped by the cords of affliction,
Hebrew Names Version
If they are bound in fetters, And are taken in the cords of afflictions,
King James Version
And if they be bound in fetters, and be holden in cords of affliction;
English Standard Version
And if they are bound in chains and caught in the cords of affliction,
New Century Version
If people are bound in chains, or if trouble, like ropes, ties them up,
New English Translation
But if they are bound in chains, and held captive by the cords of affliction,
Amplified Bible
"And if they are bound in bonds [of adversity], And held by cords of affliction,
New American Standard Bible
"And if they are bound in shackles, And are caught in the snares of misery,
World English Bible
If they are bound in fetters, And are taken in the cords of afflictions,
Geneva Bible (1587)
And if they bee bound in fetters and tyed with the cordes of affliction,
Legacy Standard Bible
And if they are bound in fetters,And are caught in the cords of affliction,
Berean Standard Bible
And if men are bound with chains, caught in cords of affliction,
Complete Jewish Bible
if, then, they are bound in chains, held in oppressive cords,
Darby Translation
And if, bound in fetters, they be held in cords of affliction,
Easy-to-Read Version
So if people are punished, if they are tied with chains and ropes, they did something wrong.
George Lamsa Translation
And if they be bound in chains, then they go down through destruction to poverty.
Good News Translation
But if people are bound in chains, suffering for what they have done,
Lexham English Bible
"And if they are tied up with fetters, if they are caught in the cords of misery,
Literal Translation
And if they are bound in chains, or caught in cords of affliction,
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
But yf they be layed in preson and cheynes, or bounde with the bondes of pouerte:
American Standard Version
And if they be bound in fetters, And be taken in the cords of affliction;
Bible in Basic English
And if they have been prisoned in chains, and taken in cords of trouble,
JPS Old Testament (1917)
And if they be bound in fetters, and be holden in cords of affliction;
King James Version (1611)
And if they bee bound in fetters, and be holden in cords of affliction:
Bishop's Bible (1568)
But if they be layde in chaynes, or bounde with the bondes of trouble,
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
But they that are bound in fetters shall be holden in cords of poverty.
English Revised Version
And if they be bound in fetters, and be taken in the cords of affliction;
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And if thei ben in chaynes, and ben boundun with the roopis of pouert,
Update Bible Version
And if they are bound in fetters, And are taken in the cords of afflictions;
Webster's Bible Translation
And if [they are] bound in fetters, [and] are held in cords of affliction;
New King James Version
And if they are bound in fetters, Held in the cords of affliction,
New Living Translation
If they are bound in chains and caught up in a web of trouble,
New Life Bible
If they are tied up in chains and caught in the ropes of trouble,
New Revised Standard
And if they are bound in fetters and caught in the cords of affliction,
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
But, if, bound in fetters, they have been captured with cords of affliction,
Douay-Rheims Bible
And if they shall be in chains, and be bound with the cords of poverty:
Revised Standard Version
And if they are bound in fetters and caught in the cords of affliction,
Young's Literal Translation
And if prisoners in fetters They are captured with cords of affliction,
New American Standard Bible (1995)
"And if they are bound in fetters, And are caught in the cords of affliction,

Contextual Overview

5 Although God is mighty, he cares about everyone and makes fair decisions. 6 The wicked are cut down, and those who are wronged receive justice. 7 God watches over good people and places them in positions of power and honor forever. 8 But when people are prisoners of suffering and pain, 9 God points out their sin and their pride, 10 then he warns them to turn back to him. 11 And if they obey, they will be successful and happy from then on. 12 But if they foolishly refuse, they will be rewarded with a violent death. 13 Godless people are too angry to ask God for help when he punishes them. 14 So they die young in shameful disgrace.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

if: Job 13:27, Job 19:6, Job 33:18, Job 33:19, Psalms 18:5, Psalms 107:10, Psalms 116:3, Lamentations 3:9

cords: Proverbs 5:22

Reciprocal: Genesis 42:21 - they said 2 Samuel 22:6 - sorrows 2 Chronicles 33:11 - the Lord Job 13:23 - make me Job 33:23 - to Job 36:13 - bindeth Psalms 107:14 - brake Amos 4:9 - yet Luke 15:18 - I have

Cross-References

Genesis 14:6
They also defeated the Horites in the hill country of Edom, as far as El-Paran, near the desert.
Genesis 32:3
Jacob sent messengers on ahead to Esau, who lived in the land of Seir, also known as Edom.
Genesis 36:1
Esau, also known as Edom, had many descendants.
Genesis 36:2
He married three Canaanite women: The first was Adah, the daughter of Elon the Hittite; the second was Oholibamah, the daughter of Anah and the granddaughter of Zibeon the Hivite;
Genesis 36:7
He did this because the land was too crowded and could not support him and his brother with their flocks and herds.
Genesis 36:19
All of these clans descended from Esau, who was known as Edom.
Genesis 36:20
Seir was from the Horite tribe that had lived in Edom before the time of Esau. The clans that had descended from him were Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah,
Deuteronomy 2:5
but don't start a war with them. I have given them the hill country of Seir, so I won't give any of it to you, not even enough to set a foot on.
Joshua 24:4
Then I gave Isaac two sons, Jacob and Esau. I had Esau live in the hill country of Mount Seir, but your ancestor Jacob and his children went to live in Egypt.
1 Chronicles 4:42
Some time later, five hundred men from the Simeon tribe went into Edom under the command of Pelatiah, Neariah, Rephaiah, and Uzziel the sons of Ishi.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

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, Lamentations 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, Lamentations 3:7 Hosea 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, Psalms 119:143; and yet this is all in mercy, and to answer some good ends and purposes, as follow.

l בתבלי עני "funibus paupertatis", Mercerus, Drusius; "funibus inopiae", Cocceius.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

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.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Job 36:8. And if they be bound in fetters — These are means which God uses, not of punishment, but of correction.


 
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