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Easy-to-Read Version

Job 36:8

So if people are punished, if they are tied with chains and ropes, they did something wrong.

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,
Contemporary English Version
But when people are prisoners of suffering and pain,
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,
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 "God is very powerful, but he does not hate people. He is very powerful, but he is also very wise. 6 He will not let evil people live. He brings justice to the poor. 7 He watches over those who live right. He lets them rule in high places. 8 So if people are punished, if they are tied with chains and ropes, they did something wrong. 9 And God will tell them what they did, that they sinned and were proud. 10 He will force them to listen to his warning. He will command them to stop sinning. 11 If they serve and obey him, he will make them successful and they will live a happy life. 12 But if they refuse to obey him, they will be destroyed. They will die like fools. 13 "People who don't care about God are always bitter. Even when he punishes them, they refuse to pray to him for help. 14 They will die while they are still young, like the male prostitutes.

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
And they defeated the Horites who lived in the area from the hill country of Seir to El Paran. (El Paran is near the desert.)
Genesis 32:3
Jacob's brother Esau was living in the area called Seir in the hill country of Edom. Jacob sent messengers to Esau.
Genesis 36:1
This is the history of the family of Esau (Edom).
Genesis 36:2
Esau married women from the land of Canaan. His wives were Adah, the daughter of Elon the Hittite, Oholibamah, the daughter of Anah, the son of Zibeon the Hivite, and
Genesis 36:19
They were all sons of Esau and leaders of the family groups of Edom.
Genesis 36:20
Seir, a Horite man, lived in Edom before Esau. These are the sons of Seir: Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah,
Deuteronomy 2:5
Don't fight them. I will not give you any of their land—not even a foot of it, because I gave the hill country of Seir to Esau to keep as his own.
Joshua 24:4
And I gave Isaac two sons, Jacob and Esau. To Esau, I gave the land around the mountains of Seir. Jacob and his sons did not live there. They went to live in the land of Egypt.
1 Chronicles 4:42
Five hundred people from the tribe of Simeon went to the hill country of Seir. Ishi's sons led these men. The sons were Pelatiah, Neariah, Rephaiah, and Uzziel. The Simeonite men fought against the people living in that place.
2 Chronicles 20:10
"But now, here are men from Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir. You would not let the Israelites enter their lands when they came out of Egypt. So the Israelites turned away and didn't destroy them.

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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