Job 4:19

Job 4:19 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)How much less in them that dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, which are crushed before the moth?
• New International Version (NIV)how much more those who live in houses of clay, whose foundations are in the dust, who are crushed more readily than a moth!
• English Standard Version (ESV)how much more those who dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed like the moth.
• New King James Version (NKJV)How much more those who dwell in houses of clay, Whose foundation is in the dust, Who are crushed before a moth?

Context of Job 4:19

17“No human is righteous when he stands in front of God. He cannot be pure in front of his Maker. 18God knows that even his angels make mistakes. They may do foolish things. God used clay to make bodies for us who are humans. We came from the dust of the earth. We are as weak as moths. 20We are alive in the morning, and when evening comes we may be dead. People disappear for ever. No one even knows about it. 21They no longer have their valuable things. They suddenly die and they are still not wise.” ’

Job 4:19 word by word

אַ֤ף׀ שֹׁכְנֵ֬י בָֽתֵּי־חֹ֗מֶר אֲשֶׁר־בֶּעָפָ֥ר יְסוֹדָ֑ם יְ֝דַכְּא֗וּם לִפְנֵי־עָֽשׁ׃Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• How much lessאַף'aph · alsoH637
• them that dwellשָׁכַןshâkan · to dwellH7931
• in housesבַּ֫יִתbayith · house: homeH1004
• of clayחֹ֫מֶרchômer · clayH2563
• whose foundationיְסוֹדyesôd · foundationH3247
• in the dustעָפָר‛âphâr · dustH6083
• are crushedדָּכָאdâkâ' · to crushH1792
• beforeפָּנֶהpânîym · face: beforeH6440
• the mothעָשׁ‛âsh ‛ăsab · mothH6211

Cross-references for Job 4:19

• Job 10:9Remember that you made me, like someone who uses clay to make things. Will you now make me become dust again?
• Job 13:12Your wise teaching is worth no more than ashes. Your arguments are weak and useless.
• Job 33:6Listen! When God looks at us, we are the same as each other. God used clay to make both of us.
• Genesis 2:7Then the Lord God took some soil from the ground and he made a man. He breathed air into the nose of the man to give him life. So the man became alive.
• Genesis 3:19You will have to work hard for a long time before you have any food to eat. You will do this for your whole life until you die. Then you will return into the ground. That is where you came from. I made you from the soil of the ground, and you will become soil again.’
• Genesis 18:27Then Abraham spoke again. He said, ‘I have been brave enough to speak to the Lord. I know that I am nothing more than dust and ashes.
• Ecclesiastes 12:7Our bodies go back into the ground as dust. The breath of our life goes back to God, who gave it to us.
• 2 Corinthians 4:7God has given to us the gift to speak his message. But we ourselves are very weak. It is like we are keeping his valuable gift in clay pots. So it is clear that the great power of God's message comes from God himself. It does not come from us.
• 2 Corinthians 5:1Our bodies are like a tent that we live in here on earth. One day, that home will come to an end. But we know that God will give us a new home. It is not a house that a human builder has built. God has built it for us in heaven and we will live there for ever.
• Job 13:28So my life is slowly disappearing. It is like a coat that moths are eating.
• Job 14:2He is like a flower that grows and then it soon dies. His life quickly disappears like a shadow.
• Psalms 39:11When people do wrong things, you warn them and you punish them. You destroy their valuable things, like a moth eats cloth! Yes, our lives are only a breath! Selah.
• Psalms 90:5You cause people's lives to end, as a dream finishes when you wake up. People are like grass that appears in the morning.
• Psalms 103:15A person's life is like grass that quickly dies. He is strong only for a short time, like wild flowers in a field.
• Psalms 146:4When they die, they return to the ground. On that day, their plans come to an end.
• 1 Peter 1:24The Bible says: ‘All people are like grass. They may seem beautiful for a short time, like flowers that grow in the fields. But grass soon becomes dry and it dies. Flowers soon fall to the ground.

Commentaries on Job 4:19

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 19How much less - Rather, with the Vulgate, How much more? If angels may be unstable, how can man arrogate stability to himself who dwells in an earthly tabernacle, and who must shortly return to dust? Crushed before the moth? The slightest accident oftentimes destroys. "A fly, a grape-stone, or a hair can kill." Great men have fallen by all these. This is the general idea in the text, and it is useless to sift for meanings.Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 19How much less - (אף 'aph ). This particle has the general sense of addition, accession, especially of something more important;” yea more, besides, even.” Gesenius. The meaning here is, “how much more true is this of man!” He puts no confidence in his angels; he charges them with frailty; how much more strikingly true must this be of man! It is not merely, as our common translation would seem to imply, that he put much less confidence in man than in…Read the comment
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 12-21Verses 12-21 Eliphaz relates a vision. When we are communing with our own hearts, and are still, Psa 4:4, then is a time for the Holy Spirit to commune with us. This vision put him into very great fear. Ever since man sinned, it has been terrible to him to receive communications from Heaven, conscious that he can expect no good tidings thence. Sinful man! shall he pretend to be more just, more pure, than God, who being his Maker, is his Lord and Owner?…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 18-21The idea that God does not trust His servants and charges His angels with error is unique (but see Genesis 6:1–4).Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1919. houses of clay--(2Co 5:1). Houses made of sun-dried clay bricks are common in the East; they are easily washed away (Mt 7:27). Man's foundation is this dust (Ge 3:19). before the moth--rather, "as before the moth," which devours a garment (Job 13:28; Psa 39:11; Is 50:9). Man, who cannot, in a physical point of view, stand before the very moth, surely cannot, in a moral, stand before God.Read the comment

Topics related to Job 4:19

• Angel (a Spirit)
• Body
• Clay
• Depravity of Man
• Dream
• Faith
• God Continued...
• Ground
• Immortality
• Life
• Man
• Moth
• Wisdom

In the dictionaries

• Clay
• Crush
• Moth
• Prey
• Dust
• Eliphaz (2)
• House
• Job, Book of
• Eliphaz

Commentaries on Job 4

• 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
• Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings