Job 8 · Verse 5

Job 8:5

If thou wouldest seek unto God betimes, and make thy supplication to the Almighty;
Job 8:5, King James Version

Job 8:5 in other translations

BSBBut if you would earnestly seek God and ask the Almighty for mercy,
WEBIf you want to seek God diligently, make your supplication to the Almighty.
ASVIf thou wouldest seek diligently unto God, And make thy supplication to the Almighty;
YLTIf thou dost seek early unto God, And unto the Mighty makest supplication,
DARBYIf thou seek earnestly unto God, and make thy supplication to the Almighty,
BBEIf you will make search for God with care, and put your request before the Ruler of all;
WebsterIf thou wouldst seek to God betimes, and make thy supplication to the Almighty;

What does Job 8:5 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
5. seek unto God betimes--early. Make it the first and chief anxiety (Psa 78:34; Ho 5:15; Is 26:9; Pr 8:17; 13:24).

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

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 5 If thou wouldest seek unto God - Though God has so severely afflicted thee, and removed thy children by a terrible judgment; yet if thou wilt now humble thyself before him, and implore his mercy, thou shalt be saved. He cut them off in their sins, but he spares thee; and this is a proof that he waits to be gracious to thee.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Job 8:1-7

Job spake much to the purpose; but Bildad, like an eager, angry disputant, turns it all off with this, How long wilt thou speak these things? Men's meaning is not taken aright, and then they are rebuked, as if they were evil-doers. Even in disputes on religion, it is too common to treat others with sharpness, and their arguments with contempt. Bildad's discourse shows that he had not a favourable opinion of Job's…

Read the full comment on Job 8:1-7 →

Job 8:5 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.

אִם\־'im-ifH518
אַ֭תָּה'A.tahyouH859
תְּשַׁחֵ֣רte.sha.Cheryou will seekH7836
אֶל\־'el-<to>H413
אֵ֑ל'ElGodH410
וְאֶל\־ve.'e.lo.Sha-and toH413
שַׁ֝דַּ֗יSha.Dai[the] AlmightyH7706
תִּתְחַנָּֽן\׃tit.cha.Nanyou will seek favorH2603

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

Cross references for Job 8:5

  • James 4:7-10

    Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.

  • Matthew 7:7-8

    Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.

  • Job 11:13

    If thou prepare thine heart, and stretch out thine hands toward him;

  • Isaiah 55:6-7

    Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

  • Hebrews 3:7-8

    Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice, Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness:

  • 2 Chronicles 33:12-13

    And when he was in affliction, he besought the Lord his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers, And prayed unto him: and he was intreated of him, and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord he was God.

  • Job 5:8

    I would seek unto God, and unto God would I commit my cause:

  • Job 22:21-30

    Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee. Receive, I pray thee, the law from his mouth, and lay up his words in thine heart. If thou return to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up, thou shalt put away iniquity far from thy tabernacles. Then shalt thou lay up gold as dust, and the gold of Ophir as the stones of the brooks. …

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

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
thou wouldest.
5:8; 11:13; 22:21-23,24-30; 2Ch 33:12,13; Isa 55:6,7; Mt 7:7,8
Heb 3:7,8; Jas 4:7-10

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

Context

  • Job 8:4

    If thy children have sinned against him, and he have cast them away for their transgression;

  • Job 8:5

    If thou wouldest seek unto God betimes, and make thy supplication to the Almighty;

  • Job 8:6

    If thou wert pure and upright; surely now he would awake for thee, and make the habitation of thy righteousness prosperous.

Read all of Job 8

Job 8:5 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Si tú de mañana buscares á Dios, y rogares al Todopoderoso;
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Si tu recherches ✶Dieu et que tu supplies le Tout-puissant,
German
Elberfelder 1871		Wenn du Gott eifrig suchst und zu dem Allmächtigen um Gnade flehst,
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		tu tamen si diluculo consurrexeris ad Deum, et Omnipotentem fueris deprecatus;