Verse Lens · Concise explanation
Job 1:3 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 3. 3His substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
Job 1:3 closes the thought unit with the words “His substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and….” The prose narrator reports “His substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and…” as a concrete action or verdict within Job Is Introduced as Upright and Prosperous.
Uz is named, then integrity is named before any test
This verse is one part of that explanation in Job 1:1–1:3. The complete section carries the connected meaning and how it should shape life.
Read It With
- Job 1:1–1:3
Read Job 1:3 with 1:1–1:3. Read alone, “His substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and…” could lose its speaker, the question or claim it develops, and the unit's outcome. The complete movement establishes: The prose narrator locates Job in Uz, explicitly affirms his integrity, names his ten children, and measures extraordinary wealth and status.
Why This Verse Appears Here
The narrator's opening declaration that Job is upright governs the dialogue and is confirmed when the LORD later rejects the friends' accusations. Within that relationship, Job 1:3 closes the thought unit through “His substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and….”
Read Job 1:1–3 together
Why these verses belong together: Job 1:1–1:3 follows the pinned KJV paragraphing and holds together one sustained prose scene: “Job Is Introduced as Upright and Prosperous.” The next unit begins with a new stanza, question sequence, scene, speaker response, or rhetorical turn.
Verse 1. 1 There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil.
Verse 2. 2 And there were born unto him seven sons and three daughters.
Verse 3. 3 His substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east.
What Remains True
The prose narrator locates Job in Uz, explicitly affirms his integrity, names his ten children, and measures extraordinary wealth and status. The story's theological and literary force does not require certainty about an unnamed author, a precise composition date, Uz's location, or a modern historicity category the text does not supply. Job 1:3 carries that bounded truth through “His substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and….”
Continue in Context
Read the complete section for the connected explanation and how it should shape life. This verse is a doorway into that passage, not a saying that stands alone.
Read Job 1:1–1:3 — Job Is Introduced as Upright and ProsperousSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? strong
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete thought-unit coverage.
Exact location: Job 1:1–1:3, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Job
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology checked at the exact unit without treating morphology as a complete apparatus or interpretation.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Job.xml, OSIS 1:1–1:3
Open the fixed Hebrew Job file ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible First Edition Notes: Job
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006; current official PDF
Supports: Verse-level controls for Job's difficult Hebrew, syntax, older KJV language, textual issues, speech boundaries, and alternatives in Job 1:1–1:3.
Exact location: Official NET Job PDF, exact translator, study, and textual notes attached to Job 1:1–1:3
Open the official NET Job PDF ↗