Bible Strands
Job 8:21
He will yet fill your mouth with laughter, and your lips with a shout of joy.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Bildad addresses Job, concluding his second speech by asserting that God will reverse Job's current suffering after declaring He does not reject the blameless. The statement follows the promise that God will not strengthen evildoers and precedes the assurance that the wicked's tent will vanish.
The words — The Hebrew יְמַלֵּ֣ה (ye.ma.Leh) literally means "he will fill," directly governing שְׂח֣וֹק (se.Chok) for "laughter" and תְרוּעָֽה (te.ru.'Ah) for "a shout of joy." These terms describe a physical reversal from mourning to vocal celebration.
The thread — The language of filled mouths and joyful shouts recurs in Psalms 126:2 and Psalms 126:6 as descriptions of Israel's collective restoration. Genesis 21:6 similarly employs laughter terminology when Sarah experiences divine intervention.
Why it lands — The text requires a reader to accept that present distress is not the final condition for those aligned with divine justice. It demands acknowledgment of the stated reversal without importing external guarantees beyond the immediate promise.
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
Till he fill thy mouth with laughing, and thy lips with rejoicing.
Cross-references
- Psalms 126:2 Then our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with shouts of joy. Then it was said among the nations, “The LORD has done great things for them.”
- Genesis 21:6 Then Sarah said, “God has made me laugh, and everyone who hears of this will laugh with me.”
- Psalms 126:6 He who goes out weeping, bearing a trail of seed, will surely return with shouts of joy, carrying sheaves of grain.
- Psalms 32:11 Be glad in the LORD and rejoice, O righteous ones; shout for joy, all you upright in heart.
- Luke 6:21 Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be filled. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.
- Ezra 3:11 And they sang responsively with praise and thanksgiving to the LORD: “For He is good; for His loving devotion to Israel endures forever.” Then all the people gave a great shout of praise to the LORD, because the foundation of the house of the LORD had been laid.
- Job 5:22 You will laugh at destruction and famine, and need not fear the beasts of the earth.
- Psalms 100:1 A Psalm of thanksgiving. Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth.
- Isaiah 65:13 Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: “My servants will eat, but you will go hungry; My servants will drink, but you will go thirsty; My servants will rejoice, but you will be put to shame.
- Nehemiah 12:43 On that day they offered great sacrifices, rejoicing because God had given them great joy. The women and children also rejoiced, so that the joy of Jerusalem was heard from afar.