Bible Strands
Job 36:8
And if men are bound with chains, caught in cords of affliction,
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Elihu addresses Job within a discourse on divine justice, placing this conditional clause between the promise that God exalts the righteous and the declaration that He will later reveal their transgressions.
The words — אֲסוּרִים ('a.su.Rim) literally means bound or captive, and עֹנִי ('O.ni) denotes affliction or distress.
The thread — The motif of chains and cords of affliction appears in Psalms 107:10, Proverbs 5:22, and Job 13:27 to describe human entrapment under moral or divine consequences.
Why it lands — It demands recognition that bondage is not an endpoint but the specific condition God uses to deliver corrective instruction.
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
And if they be bound in fetters, and be holden in cords of affliction;
Cross-references
- Psalms 107:10 Some sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, prisoners in affliction and chains,
- Proverbs 5:22 The iniquities of a wicked man entrap him; the cords of his sin entangle him.
- Job 13:27 You put my feet in the stocks and stand watch over all my paths; You set a limit for the soles of my feet.
- Job 19:6 then understand that it is God who has wronged me and drawn His net around me.
- Job 33:18 to preserve his soul from the Pit and his life from perishing by the sword.
- Psalms 18:5 The cords of Sheol entangled me; the snares of death confronted me.
- Psalms 116:3 The ropes of death entangled me; the anguish of Sheol overcame me; I was confronted by trouble and sorrow.
- Lamentations 3:9 He has barred my ways with cut stones; He has made my paths crooked.