Bible Strands
Job 29:7
When I went out to the city gate and took my seat in the public square,
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Job speaks to himself while recounting his former days of prosperity, describing his routine of going to the city gate to take his seat in the public square. He addresses an implied audience by detailing his past civic presence before his current suffering.
The words — The Hebrew שַׁעַר (shaʿar) means "gate," and בָּרְחֹב (baḥereḇ) translates literally to "in the broad place" or "public square." These terms denote the formal civic and judicial center where official business was conducted.
The thread — This gate-and-square motif appears in Deuteronomy 16:18 for appointing judges, Ruth 4:1 for legal transactions, and Zechariah 8:16 for rendering sound judgments. The location consistently functions as the designated space for public administration and communal accountability.
Why it lands — The text states that Job physically occupied the town gate and square to preside over civic affairs, establishing his former role as a recognized authority figure. It asks the reader to note how social standing and judicial responsibility were physically anchored in a specific public space before the narrative shifts to his displacement.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
When I went out to the gate through the city, when I prepared my seat in the street!
Cross-references
- Deuteronomy 16:18 You are to appoint judges and officials for your tribes in every town that the LORD your God is giving you. They are to judge the people with righteous judgment.
- Ruth 4:1 Meanwhile, Boaz went to the gate and sat down there. Soon the kinsman-redeemer of whom he had spoken came along, and Boaz said, “Come over here, my friend, and sit down.” So he went over and sat down.
- Zechariah 8:16 These are the things you must do: Speak truth to one another, render true and sound judgments in your gates,
- Ruth 4:11 “We are witnesses,” said the elders and all the people at the gate. “May the LORD make the woman entering your home like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the house of Israel. May you be prosperous in Ephrathah and famous in Bethlehem.
- Deuteronomy 21:19 his father and mother are to lay hold of him and bring him to the elders of his city, to the gate of his hometown,
- Job 31:21 if I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless because I saw that I had support in the gate,