Bible Strands
Job 33:29
Behold, all these things God does to a man, two or even three times,
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Elihu addresses Job during his ongoing speech, responding to Job’s declaration that God has redeemed his soul from the Pit. The moment occurs in the middle of Elihu’s argument about how God communicates and corrects humanity.
The words — The Hebrew `יִפְעַל` (yif.'al) literally means “he does” or “he works,” while `פַּעֲמַיִם` (pa.'a.ma.yim) and `שָׁלוֹשׁ` (sha.lo.osh) denote “two times” and “three times.” These terms establish God’s action as deliberate and repeated rather than singular or arbitrary.
The thread — The text’s emphasis on God’s repeated work aligns with 1 Corinthians 12:6 on God working all things in all people, Ephesians 1:11 on God working out everything according to His plan, and Philippians 2:13 on God working in believers to will and act. The thread traces a consistent biblical pattern of divine agency operating through repeated or varied means.
Why it lands — The verse states that God repeatedly intervenes in human experience to accomplish a specific purpose. It requires the reader to recognize deliberate divine action in recurring circumstances instead of attributing them to chance or divine absence.
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
Lo, all these things worketh God oftentimes with man,
Cross-references
- 1 Corinthians 12:6 There are different ways of working, but the same God works all things in all people.
- Ephesians 1:11 In Him we were also chosen as God’s own, having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything by the counsel of His will,
- Philippians 2:13 For it is God who works in you to will and to act on behalf of His good purpose.
- 2 Corinthians 5:5 And it is God who has prepared us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a pledge of what is to come.
- Hebrews 13:21 equip you with every good thing to do His will. And may He accomplish in us what is pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
- 2 Kings 6:10 So the king of Israel sent word to the place the man of God had pointed out. Time and again Elisha warned the king, so that he was on his guard in such places.
- Job 33:14 For God speaks in one way and in another, yet no one notices.
- Colossians 1:29 To this end I also labor, striving with all His energy working powerfully within me.
- Job 40:5 I have spoken once, but I have no answer—twice, but I have nothing to add.”
- 2 Corinthians 12:8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me.