Job 5:17
“Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth: therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty:”
King James Version (KJV)
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Read Full Chapter →Context
Eliphaz the Temanite is delivering his first reply to Job, counseling him to regard his suffering as divine discipline -- though Eliphaz wrongly assumes Job's troubles stem from personal sin.
What Does Job 5:17 Mean?
Job 5:17 says that the person God corrects is, in a deeper sense, blessed. These are the words of Eliphaz, the first of Job's friends to speak, and he is urging Job to see suffering as God's loving discipline rather than only as ruin. The thought itself is true and echoes throughout Scripture: correction from God is not the act of an enemy but the attention of one who cares enough to shape a life. To "despise not the chastening of the Almighty" is to refuse to grow hard or resentful when hardship comes, and instead to ask what God might be doing in it.
Yet the book of Job invites careful reading here. Eliphaz states a real principle, but he misapplies it -- he assumes Job is suffering because of hidden sin that needs correcting, and the reader already knows that is not the case. So the verse holds a genuine truth wrapped inside a flawed diagnosis. We can affirm that God's discipline is meant for our good while also recognizing that not all suffering is punishment for wrongdoing. The challenge is to receive correction humbly when it is correction, without forcing every painful season into that single explanation. Wisdom learns the difference, and learns to trust God in both.
In the Original Language
The word for "correcteth" (yakach) means to reprove, argue a case, or set right. "Chastening" renders musar, the discipline or instruction by which a person is trained toward wisdom.
Cross References
Application
When hardship comes, ask humbly whether God may be shaping you through it -- while remembering that not every trial is punishment, so you need not assume the worst about yourself.