English Standard Version
Job 27:18
18He builds his house like a moth's, like a booth that a watchman makes.
Job 27:18 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)He buildeth his house as a moth, and as a booth that the keeper maketh.
- New International Version (NIV)The house he builds is like a moth’s cocoon, like a hut made by a watchman.
- New King James Version (NKJV)He builds his house like a moth, Like a booth which a watchman makes.
- New Living Translation (NLT)The wicked build houses as fragile as a spider’s web, as flimsy as a shelter made of branches.
Context of Job 27:18
16Though he heap up silver like dust, and pile up clothing like clay, 17he may pile it up, but the righteous will wear it, and the innocent will divide the silver. He builds his house like a moth's, like a booth that a watchman makes. 19He goes to bed rich, but will do so no more; he opens his eyes, and his wealth is gone. 20Terrors overtake him like a flood; in the night a whirlwind carries him off.
Read all of Job 27Job 27:18 word by word
בָּנָ֣ה כָעָ֣שׁ בֵּית֑וֹ וּ֝כְסֻכָּ֗ה עָשָׂ֥ה נֹצֵֽר׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Job 27:18
- Job 8:14His confidence is severed, and his trust is a spider's web.
- Isaiah 51:8For the moth will eat them up like a garment, and the worm will eat them like wool, but my righteousness will be forever, and my salvation to all generations."
- Isaiah 1:8And the daughter of Zion is left like a booth in a vineyard, like a lodge in a cucumber field, like a besieged city.
- Isaiah 38:12My dwelling is plucked up and removed from me like a shepherd's tent; like a weaver I have rolled up my life; he cuts me off from the loom; from day to night you bring me to an end;
- Lamentations 2:6He has laid waste his booth like a garden, laid in ruins his meeting place; the Lord has made Zion forget festival and Sabbath, and in his fierce indignation has spurned king and priest.
Commentaries on Job 27:18
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 18He buildeth his house as a moth - With great skill, great pains, and great industry; but the structure, however skillful, shall be dissolved; and the materials, however costly, shall be brought to corruption. To its owner it shall be only a temporary habitation, like that which the moth makes in its larve or caterpillar state, during its change from a chrysalis to a winged insect. As a booth that the keeper maketh - A shed which the watchman or keeper of…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 18He buildeth his house as a moth - The house which the moth builds is the slight fabric which it makes for its own dwelling in the garment which it consumes. On this verse compare Job 8:14. The dwelling of the moth is composed of the materials of the garment on which it feeds, and there may be an allusion here not only to the fact that the house which the wicked reared for themselves would be temporary, and that it would soon pass away like the dwelling of…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 11-23Verses 11-23 Job's friends, on the same subject, spoke of the misery of wicked men before death as proportioned to their crimes; Job considered that if it were not so, still the consequences of their death would be dreadful. Job undertook to set this matter in a true light. Death to a godly man, is like a fair gale of wind to convey him to the heavenly country; but, to a wicked man, it is like a storm, that hurries him away to destruction. While he lived…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 9-23Some interpreters think this is a new speech by Zophar. Without it, Zophar has no speech in this cycle.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 11-2311-23. These words are contrary to Job's previous sentiments (see on Job 21:22-33; Job 24:22-25). Job 21:22-33; 24:22-25). They therefore seem to be Job's statement, not so much of his own sentiments, as of what Zophar would have said had he spoken when his turn came (end of the twenty-sixth chapter). So Job stated the friends' opinion (Job 21:17-21; 24:18-21). The objection is, why, if so, does not Job answer Zophar's opinion, as stated by himself? The…Read the comment
Topics related to Job 27:18
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Job 27
- 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
English Standard Version — © 2001 Crossway Bibles
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