Job 33 · Verse 24

Job 33:24

Then he is gracious unto him, and saith, Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom.

Job 33:24, King James Version

Job 33:24 in other translations

BSB	to be gracious to him and say, ‘Spare him from going down to the Pit; I have found his ransom,’
WEB	then God is gracious to him, and says, ‘Deliver him from going down to the pit, I have found a ransom.’
ASV	Then God is gracious unto him, and saith, Deliver him from going down to the pit, I have found a ransom.
YLT	Then He doth favour him and saith, ‘Ransom him from going down to the pit, I have found an atonement.'
DARBY	Then he will be gracious unto him, and say, Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom.
BBE	And if he has mercy on him, and says, Let him not go down to the underworld, I have given the price for his life:
Webster	Then he is gracious to him, and saith, Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom.

What does Job 33:24 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown

24. Apodosis to Job 33:23. he--God. Deliver--literally, "redeem"; in it and "ransom" there is reference to the consideration, on account of which God pardons and relieves the sufferers; here it is primarily the intercession of Elihu. But the language is too strong for its full meaning to be exhausted by this. The Holy Ghost has suggested language which receives its full realization only in the "eternal redemption found" by God in the price paid by Jesus Christ for it; that is, His blood and meritorious intercession (He 9:12). "Obtained," literally, "found"; implying the earnest zeal, wisdom, and faithfulness of the finder, and the newness and joyousness of the finding. Jesus Christ could not but have found it, but still His seeking it was needed [Bengel], (Lu 15:8). God the Father, is the Finder (Psa 89:19). Jesus Christ the Redeemer, to whom He saith, Redeem (so Hebrew) him from going, &c. (2Co 5:19). ransom--used in a general sense by Elihu, but meant by the Holy Ghost in its strict sense as applied to Jesus Christ, of a price paid for deliverance (Ex 21:30), an atonement (that is, means of selling at once, that is, reconciling "two" who are estranged), a covering, as of the ark with pitch, typical of what covers us sinners from wrath (Ge 6:14; Psa 32:1). The pit is primarily here the grave (Is 38:17), but the spiritual pit is mainly shadowed forth (Zec 9:11).

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary

Verse 24 Then he is gracious unto him - He exercises mercy towards fallen man, and gives command for his respite and pardon. Deliver him from going down to the pit - Let him who is thus instructed, penitent, and afflicted, and comes to me, find a pardon; for: - VI. By an Atonement I have found a ransom - כפר copher, an atonement. Pay a ransom for him, פדעהו pedaehu, that he may not go down to the pit - to corruption or destruction, for I have found out an atonement. It is this that gives efficacy to all the preceding means; without which they would be useless, and the salvation of man impossible. I must think that the redemption of a lost world, by Jesus Christ, is not obscurely signified in Job 33:23, Job 33:24. While the whole world lay in the wicked one, and were all hastening to the bottomless pit, God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him might not perish, but have everlasting life. Jesus Christ, the great sacrifice, and head of the Church, commissions his messengers - apostles and their successors - to show men the righteousness of God, and his displeasure at sin, and at the same time his infinite love, which commands them to proclaim deliverance to the captives, and that they who believe on him shall not perish, shall not go down to the pit of destruction, for he has found out an atonement; and that whoever comes to him, through Christ, shall have everlasting life, in virtue of that atonement or ransom price. Should it be objected against my interpretation of אלף aleph, that it cannot be translated chief or head, because it is without the vau shurek, אלוף alluph, which gives it this signification; I would answer, that this form of the word is not essential to the signification given above, as it occurs in several places without the vau shurek, where it most certainly signifies a chief, a leader, captain, etc., e.g., Zac 9:7; Jer 13:21, and Gen 36:30; in the first of which we translate it governor; in the second, captain; and in the third, duke. And although we translate אלוף alluph an ox or beeve, (and it most certainly has this meaning in several places), yet in this signification it is written without the vau shurek in Pro 14:4; Psa 8:7; Isa 30:24; and in Deu 7:13; Deu 28:4, Deu 28:18, Deu 28:51; which all show that this letter is not absolutely necessary to the above signification.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Job 33:19-28

Job complained of his diseases, and judged by them that God was angry with him; his friends did so too: but Elihu shows that God often afflicts the body for good to the soul. This thought will be of great use for our getting good from sickness, in and by which God speaks to men. Pain is the fruit of sin; yet, by the grace of God, the pain of the body is often made a means of good to the soul. When afflictions have…

Read the full comment on Job 33:19-28 →

Job 33:24 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

וַיְחֻנֶּ֗נּוּvay.chun.Ne.nuand he showed favor to himH2603

וַיֹּ֗אמֶרvai.Yo.merand he saidH559

פְּ֭דָעֵהוּPe.da.'e.hudeliver himH6308

מֵרֶ֥דֶתme.Re.detfrom going downH3381

שָׁ֗חַתSha.chat[the] pitH7845

מָצָ֥אתִיma.Tza.tiI have foundH4672

כֹֽפֶר\׃Kho.fera ransomH3724

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Job 33:24

Psalms 49:7-8
None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him: (For the redemption of their soul is precious, and it ceaseth for ever:)
Matthew 20:28
Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.
1 Peter 1:18-19
Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:
Job 33:18
He keepeth back his soul from the pit, and his life from perishing by the sword.
Hosea 14:4
I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him.
Job 22:21
Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee.
Exodus 33:19
And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy.
Zechariah 9:11
As for thee also, by the blood of thy covenant I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water.
Micah 7:18-20
Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy. He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob, and the mercy to Abraham, which thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of old.
1 Timothy 2:6
Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.
Romans 5:20-21
Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.
Isaiah 38:17-19
Behold, for peace I had great bitterness: but thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption: for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back. For the grave cannot praise thee, death can not celebrate thee: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth. The living, the living, he shall praise thee, as I do this day: the father to the children shall make known thy truth.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Then.
18; 22:21; Ex 33:19; 34:6,7; Ps 86:5,15; Ho 14:2,4; Mic 7:18-20
Ro 5:20,21
Deliver.
36:10,11; Ps 22:4; 30:9-12; 40:2; 71:3; 86:13; Isa 38:17-19
Jer 31:20; Zec 9:11
I.
33:24; Ps 49:7,8; Mt 20:28; Ro 3:24-26; 1Ti 2:6; 1Pe 1:18,19
a ransom. or, an atonement.

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

Job 33:23
If there be a messenger with him, an interpreter, one among a thousand, to shew unto man his uprightness:
Job 33:24
Then he is gracious unto him, and saith, Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom.
Job 33:25
His flesh shall be fresher than a child’s: he shall return to the days of his youth:

Read all of Job 33

Job 33:24 in other languages

Spanish Reina-Valera 1909	Que le diga que Dios tuvo de él misericordia, que lo libró de descender al sepulcro, que halló redención:
French Bible J.N. Darby 1885	Il lui fera grâce, et il dira: Délivre-le pour qu’il ne descende pas dans la fosse: j’ai trouvé une propitiation.
German Elberfelder 1871	so wird er sich seiner erbarmen und sprechen: Erlöse ihn, daß er nicht in die Grube hinabfahre; ich habe eine Sühnung gefunden.
Latin Clementine Vulgate	miserebitur ejus, et dicet: Libera eum, ut non descendat in corruptionem: inveni in quo ei propitier.