Job 13:12

Job 13:12 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)Your remembrances are like unto ashes, your bodies to bodies of clay.
• New International Version (NIV)Your maxims are proverbs of ashes; your defenses are defenses of clay.
• English Standard Version (ESV)Your maxims are proverbs of ashes; your defenses are defenses of clay.
• New King James Version (NKJV)Your platitudes are proverbs of ashes, Your defenses are defenses of clay.

Context of Job 13:12

10He will surely reprimand you If you secretly show partiality. 11Will not His majesty terrify you, And will not the dread of Him fall upon you? Your memorable sayings are [worthless, merely] proverbs of ashes; Your defenses are defenses of [crumbling] clay. 13“Be silent before me so that I may speak; And let happen to me what may. 14Why should I take my flesh in my teeth And put my life in my hands [incurring the wrath of God]?

Job 13:12 word by word

זִֽ֭כְרֹנֵיכֶם מִשְׁלֵי־אֵ֑פֶר לְגַבֵּי־חֹ֝֗מֶר גַּבֵּיכֶֽם׃Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• Your remembrancesזִכָּרוֹןzikrôn · memorialH2146
• likeמָשָׁלmâshâl · proverbH4912
• unto ashesאֵ֫פֶר'êpher · ashesH665
• your bodiesגַּבgab · back/rim/browH1354
• of clayחֹ֫מֶרchômer · clayH2563

Cross-references for Job 13:12

• Job 18:17Memory of him perishes from the earth, And he has no name on the street.
• Exodus 17:14Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write this in the book as a memorial and recite it to Joshua, that I will utterly wipe out the memory of Amalek [and his people] from under heaven.”
• Psalms 34:16The face of the Lord is against those who do evil, To cut off the memory of them from the earth.
• Psalms 102:12But You, O Lord, are enthroned forever [ruling eternally as sovereign]; And [the fame and glory of] Your name [endures] to all generations.
• Psalms 109:15Let them be before the Lord continually, That He may cut off their memory from the earth;
• Proverbs 10:7The memory of the righteous [person] is a [source of] blessing, But the name of the wicked will [be forgotten and] rot [like a corpse].
• Isaiah 26:14The [wicked] dead will not live [again], the spirits of the dead will not rise and return; Therefore You have punished and destroyed them, And You have wiped out every memory of them [every trace of them].
• Genesis 18:27Abraham answered, “Now behold, I who am but dust [in origin] and ashes have decided to speak to the Lord.
• Job 4:19How much more [will He blame and charge] those who dwell in houses (bodies) of clay, Whose foundations are in the dust, Who are crushed like a moth.
• Genesis 2:7then the Lord God formed [that is, created the body of] man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being [an individual complete in body and spirit].
• 2 Corinthians 5:1For we know that if the earthly tent [our physical body] which is our house is torn down [through death], we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.

Commentaries on Job 13:12

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 12Your remembrances are like unto ashes - Your memorable sayings are proverbs of dust. This is properly the meaning of the original: אפר משלי זכרניכם zichroneycem mishley epher . This he speaks in reference to the ancient and reputedly wise sayings which they had so copiously quoted against him. Your bodies to bodies of clay - This clause is variously translated: Your swelling heaps are swelling heaps of mire. That is, Your high-flown speeches are dark…Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 12Your remembrances are like unto ashes - There has been a considerable variety in the interpretation of this verse. The meaning in our common version is certainly not very clear. The Vulgate renders it, Memoria vestra comparabitur cineri. The Septuagint, ̓́ ̀ ̔͂ ̀ ́ ̓͂ ͂ͅ Apobēsetai de humōn to gauriama isa spodō - “your boasting shall pass away like ashes.” Dr. Good renders it, “Dust are your stored-up sayings.” Noyes, “Your maxims are words of dust.”…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 12Ashes have no value (see Isaiah 44:20).Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1212. remembrances--"proverbial maxims," so called because well remembered. like unto ashes--or, "parables of ashes"; the image of lightness and nothingness (Is 44:20). bodies--rather, "entrenchments"; those of clay, as opposed to those of stone, are easy to be destroyed; so the proverbs, behind which they entrench themselves, will not shelter them when God shall appear to reprove them for their injustice to Job.Read the comment

Topics related to Job 13:12

• Life
• Persecution

In the dictionaries

• Dread
• Motheaten
• Spend
• Value
• Ashes
• How
• Job, Book of

Commentaries on Job 13

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Rashi on Tanakh
• Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings