New Living Translation
Job 4:19
19how much less will he trust people made of clay! They are made of dust, crushed as easily as a moth.
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‘Can a mortal be innocent before God? Can anyone be pure before the Creator?’ 18“If God does not trust his own angels and has charged his messengers with foolishness, how much less will he trust people made of clay! They are made of dust, crushed as easily as a moth. 20They are alive in the morning but dead by evening, gone forever without a trace. 21Their tent-cords are pulled and the tent collapses, and they die in ignorance.
Read all of Job 4Job 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 from dust— will you turn me back to dust so soon?
- Job 13:12Your platitudes are as valuable as ashes. Your defense is as fragile as a clay pot.
- Job 33:6Look, you and I both belong to God. I, too, was formed from clay.
- Genesis 2:7Then the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into the man’s nostrils, and the man became a living person.
- Genesis 3:19By the sweat of your brow will you have food to eat until you return to the ground from which you were made. For you were made from dust, and to dust you will return.”
- Genesis 18:27Then Abraham spoke again. “Since I have begun, let me speak further to my Lord, even though I am but dust and ashes.
- Ecclesiastes 12:7For then the dust will return to the earth, and the spirit will return to God who gave it.
- 2 Corinthians 4:7We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves.
- 2 Corinthians 5:1For we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down (that is, when we die and leave this earthly body), we will have a house in heaven, an eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands.
- Job 13:28I waste away like rotting wood, like a moth-eaten coat.
- Job 14:2We blossom like a flower and then wither. Like a passing shadow, we quickly disappear.
- Psalms 39:11When you discipline us for our sins, you consume like a moth what is precious to us. Each of us is but a breath. Interlude
- Psalms 90:5You sweep people away like dreams that disappear. They are like grass that springs up in the morning.
- Psalms 103:15Our days on earth are like grass; like wildflowers, we bloom and die.
- Psalms 146:4When they breathe their last, they return to the earth, and all their plans die with them.
- 1 Peter 1:24As the Scriptures say, “People are like grass; their beauty is like a flower in the field. The grass withers and the flower fades.
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
In the dictionaries
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
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