Job 5:25 kjv
Thou shalt know also that thy seed shall be great, and thine offspring as the grass of the earth.
Job 5:25 nkjv
You shall also know that your descendants shall be many, And your offspring like the grass of the earth.
Job 5:25 niv
You will know that your children will be many, and your descendants like the grass of the earth.
Job 5:25 esv
You shall know also that your offspring shall be many, and your descendants as the grass of the earth.
Job 5:25 nlt
You will have many children;
your descendants will be as plentiful as grass!
Job 5 25 Cross References
| Verse | Text | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Gen 13:16 | "I will make your offspring as the dust of the earth, so that if one can count the dust of the earth, then your offspring can also be counted." | Promise of innumerable descendants. |
| Gen 15:5 | "Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then He said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”" | Abraham's seed like stars, countless. |
| Gen 22:17 | "I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand on the seashore..." | Divine promise of numerous descendants. |
| Exod 1:7 | "But the people of Israel were fruitful and increased greatly; they multiplied and grew exceedingly strong..." | Israel's abundant multiplication. |
| Deut 1:10 | "The LORD your God has multiplied you, so that today you are as numerous as the stars of heaven." | God multiplied Israel greatly. |
| Deut 28:4 | "Blessed shall be the fruit of your womb..." | Blessing of offspring in obedience. |
| Psa 1:3 | "He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season... and in all that he does, he prospers." | Righteous prosperity, implicitly including family. |
| Psa 112:1-2 | "Blessed is the man who fears the LORD... His offspring will be mighty in the land..." | The upright's seed blessed. |
| Psa 127:3-5 | "Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb a reward... Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them!" | Children as a divine heritage and blessing. |
| Psa 128:3 | "Your wife will be like a fruitful vine within your house; your children will be like olive shoots around your table." | Abundant children as blessing. |
| Prov 10:27 | "The fear of the LORD prolongs life, but the years of the wicked will be short." | Implicit link between righteousness and future, including posterity. |
| Prov 13:22 | "A good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children..." | Prosperity and legacy across generations. |
| Isa 48:19 | "Your offspring would have been like the sand, and your descendants like its grains..." | God's promised multiplication to faithful Israel. |
| Isa 53:10 | "He shall see His offspring; He shall prolong His days..." | Messianic promise of spiritual "offspring." |
| Jer 30:19 | "Out of them shall come thanksgiving, and the voice of those who celebrate. I will make them multiply, and they shall not be few..." | Promise of future increase and celebration. |
| Ezek 36:11 | "I will multiply on you man and beast, and they shall multiply and be fruitful..." | God's restoration involving multiplication. |
| Joel 2:24 | "The threshing floors shall be full of grain; the vats shall overflow with wine and oil." | God's material restoration and abundance. |
| Amos 9:13 | "Behold, the days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when the plowman shall overtake the reaper..." | Future agricultural and national abundance. |
| Zech 8:12 | "For the seed shall be prosperous; the vine shall yield its fruit, and the ground shall give its produce..." | Promise of bountiful produce and prosperity. |
| Mal 3:10 | "Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse... See if I will not pour out for you a blessing until there is no more need." | God's material blessing for obedience. |
| Rom 4:18 | "who against hope believed in hope, so that he might become a father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, 'So shall your offspring be.'" | Abraham's spiritual seed by faith. |
| Gal 3:29 | "And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise." | Believers as spiritual heirs, fulfilling Abrahamic promise. |
Job 5 verses
Job 5 25 Meaning
Job 5:25 conveys Eliphaz's assurance to Job that if he turns to God, he will experience complete restoration and blessing, including an abundant posterity. This promise reflects a prevailing ancient Near Eastern retribution theology, suggesting that prosperity and a numerous family are indicators of God's favor due to righteousness.
Job 5 25 Context
Job 5:25 is part of Eliphaz the Temanite's first speech to Job. Eliphaz, speaking from a position of conventional wisdom prevalent in the ancient Near East, argues that suffering is a direct result of sin (Job 4:7). He encourages Job to turn to God (Job 5:8) and not despise His discipline (Job 5:17). Eliphaz lists various blessings and protections that will follow repentance and divine favor, including safety from famine, war, beasts, and even stones (Job 5:20-23). This specific verse, 5:25, presents the promise of a vast number of descendants as a key component of this restoration, aligning with a societal value that viewed numerous offspring as a profound blessing and a sign of prosperity. The overarching context of Job as a book, however, serves to challenge and deconstruct this overly simplistic cause-and-effect understanding of suffering and blessing, ultimately affirming God's sovereignty and Job's righteousness despite his affliction.
Job 5 25 Word analysis
- Thou shalt know (וְיָדַ עְ תָּ - ve-ya'data): This phrase emphasizes experiential knowledge, a certainty gained through observation or personal experience, not merely intellectual understanding. Eliphaz presents this outcome as a definite, undeniable consequence of Job returning to God.
- also (גַּם - gam): An emphatic particle indicating an additional, perhaps surprising, blessing. It extends the previous list of benefits promised to Job if he were to repent, highlighting that not only his personal safety and peace but also his family legacy would be restored.
- thy seed (זַ רְ עֲ ךָ - zar'aka): Refers to physical offspring, descendants, or posterity. In ancient Israelite culture, the continuation of one's family line was of utmost importance, ensuring memory, inheritance, and presence in the land. Numerous offspring were considered a sign of divine blessing and a vital component of a successful and blessed life.
- shall be great (רַב - rav): Signifies numerous, abundant, many, or mighty. It denotes quantitative immensity, emphasizing a multitude of descendants, not necessarily their status or quality in this immediate context. This term reinforces the promise of significant family growth.
- and thine offspring (וְצֶאֱצָאֶיךָ - ve-tse'etsa'eka): Tse'etsa'im typically refers to descendants, children, or fruit. It is often used as a synonym or parallel to "seed," serving to amplify and reiterate the idea of an abundant lineage. The repetition emphasizes the certainty and vastness of the promised descendants.
- as the grass of the earth (כְּ עֵשֶׂב הָאָרֶ ץ - ke-eśev ha'aretz): A powerful simile common in the Old Testament. "Grass of the earth" (eśev ha'aretz) is abundant, ubiquitous, and naturally multiplying. It represents something exceedingly numerous, spreading widely, and continuously renewing itself. While "grass" can sometimes denote transience (e.g., Isa 40:6-7), here, in the context of "great" and "offspring," it unmistakably refers to countless multitude and fertile growth, promising Job a seemingly endless proliferation of his descendants.
Job 5 25 Bonus section
The idea of having "seed" like the "grass of the earth" is a strong ancient idiom for boundless multitude. It echoes similar blessings given by God to Abraham, promising offspring as numerous as the stars or the dust of the earth (Gen 13:16; 15:5). This signifies Eliphaz tapping into deep-seated cultural and religious hopes and divine promises known from their traditions. However, the key distinction is that while God makes unconditional covenant promises, Eliphaz offers a conditional assurance based on human understanding of sin and reward, a system that the book of Job rigorously questions. The polemic against contemporary belief here is subtle: not against the belief that God blesses, but against the simplified, mechanical formula that attributes all suffering solely to sin and makes blessing an inevitable consequence of ritual or perceived piety. The irony is that Job himself will eventually receive such blessings, but not because he accepted Eliphaz's counsel of repentance, but through God's unmerited favor and Job's sustained faith amidst undeserved suffering.
Job 5 25 Commentary
Eliphaz's promise in Job 5:25 is a quintessential example of conventional wisdom within the framework of retributive theology. He offers Job a comforting, yet ultimately flawed, guarantee: return to God, and all your earthly fortunes, including a flourishing lineage, will be restored. This promise resonated deeply with the values of ancient Near Eastern societies, where large families were signs of divine favor, economic stability, and cultural immortality. However, the book of Job as a whole challenges the notion that human suffering or prosperity always correlate directly with moral merit or demerit. While God is indeed a blesser of the righteous and the one who grants children, Eliphaz's error lies in presenting this as a universal, predictable quid pro quo and implying Job's suffering stemmed from some hidden sin, thereby failing to grasp the complexity of God's ways or the potential for righteous suffering. The verse, therefore, represents human wisdom attempting to explain divine action, offering a superficial solution that overlooks the deeper, sovereign purposes of God.