Job 11:18
in Job 11You will be secure, because there is hope, and you will look around and lie down in safety.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And thou shalt be secure, because there is hope; Yea, thou shalt search about thee, and shalt take thy rest in safety.
KJV
And thou shalt be secure, because there is hope; yea, thou shalt dig about thee, and thou shalt take thy rest in safety.
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This verse in Job 11
Commentary
9 notes on this verseAnd thou shalt be secure - Thou shalt not fear any farther evils to disturb thy prosperity, for thou shalt have a well-grounded hope and confidence that thou shalt no more be visited by adversity. Yea, thou shalt dig - I believe this neither refers to digging his grave, nor to curiously investigating surrounding circumstances; but to the custom of digging for water in the places where they pitched their tents.
This site's exposition
you will forget your misery
on Job 11:16-19
Zophar's restoration, "you will forget your misery" and a life "brighter than noonday", repeats each friend's offer: a bright future in exchange for repentance. It rests on sins the friends assume, and the book's last chapter uses the same restoration language of Job with no such condition.
This site's exposition
because there is hope
Jamieson, Fausset and Brown note that the verb behind look around can mean to dig, as for wells. They read the verse as a man able to lie down in safety. Gregory hears the pull toward despair that trials bring, which hope restrains.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church2 voices
And when thou thinkest thyself consumed, thou shalt arise like the morning star. And thou shalt have confidence, because hope is set before thee. For it often comes to pass that so many temptations beset our path, that the very multitude of them almost inclines us to the downfall of desperation.
As Job had said a second time above that his days had been used up, "without any hope," (7:6) Sophar then says, "You will have confidence when hope has been proposed to you." Because Job also had rejected above the opinion of those who said …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
): Thou shalt be secure, because there is hope. Note, Those who have a good hope, through grace, in God, and of heaven, are certainly safe, and have reason to be secure, how difficult soever the times are through which they pass in this world.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
And thou shall be secure,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
The experience of thy life will teach thee there is hope for man in every trial. dig--namely, wells; the chief necessity in the East. Better, "though now ashamed (Ro 5:5, opposed to the previous 'hope'), thou shalt then rest safely" [GESENIUS];
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
And thou shalt be secure - You will feel confident that your prosperity will be permanent, and you will be free from the distressing anxieties and fears which you now have. Thou shalt dig about thee - The Chaldee renders this, “thou shalt prepare for thyself a sepulchre, and shalt lie down in safety.” The word used here (חפר châphar) has two significations. It means, (1) “to dig” - as, e. g. a well, and under this signification to search out, to explore; and, (2.) to be ashamed, to blush, Isa 1:29. According to Gesenius, the latter here is the signification. “Now thou art ashamed, then thou shalt dwell in quiet,” Lexicon. So Noyes renders it. Dr. Good translates it, “yea, thou shalt look around;” Rosenmuller, “thou art suffused with shame.” This is, probably, the true sense; and the idea is, that though he was now covered with shame, yet he would lie down in peace and safety if he would return to the Lord.
The words behind it
7 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וּֽ֭בָטַחְתָּ | uvatachta | and you will be secure | H982 → | 120 times |
| כִּי־ | ki- | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| יֵ֣שׁ | yesh | there | H3426 → | 140 times |
| תִּקְוָ֑ה | tikvah | [is] hope | H8615 → | 34 times |
| וְ֝חָפַרְתָּ֗ | vechafarta | and you will be well protected | H2658 → | 22 times |
| לָבֶ֥טַח | lavetach | to security | H983 → | |
| תִּשְׁכָּֽב׃ | tishkav | you will lie down | H7901 → | 212 times |
וּֽ֭בָטַחְתָּand you will be secure
uvatachtaH982 →120 times
כִּי־for
ki-H3588 →4482 times
יֵ֣שׁthere
yeshH3426 →140 times
תִּקְוָ֑ה[is] hope
tikvahH8615 →34 times
וְ֝חָפַרְתָּ֗and you will be well protected
vechafartaH2658 →22 times
לָבֶ֥טַחto security
lavetachH983 →
תִּשְׁכָּֽב׃you will lie down
tishkavH7901 →212 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Psalms 4:8I will lie down and sleep in peace, for You alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety.
it leads to
- Proverbs 3:24
When you lie down, you will not be afraid; when you rest, your sleep will be sweet.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Job 11:18–19
You will be secure, because there is hope, and you will look around and lie down in safety.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Psalms 3:5
I lie down and sleep; I wake again, for the LORD sustains me.
- Psalms 16:8–9
I have set the LORD always before me. Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
- 1 Thessalonians 5:10
He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with Him.
- Proverbs 3:24
Through
Psalms 3:5I lie down and sleep; I wake again, for the LORD sustains me.
it leads to
- Psalms 4:8
I will lie down and sleep in peace, for You alone, O LORD, make me dwell in safety.
- Isaiah 26:3
You will keep in perfect peace the steadfast of mind, because he trusts in You.
- Leviticus 26:6
And I will give peace to the land, and you will lie down with nothing to fear. I will rid the land of dangerous animals, and no sword will pass through your land.
- Psalms 4:8
About Job
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job; Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book X; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.