Revised Literal Translation
Job 4:19
19How much less in them that dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, which are crushed before the 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
17Shall mortal man be more just than God? shall a man be more pure than his maker? 18Behold, he put no trust in his servants; and his angels he charged with folly: How much less in them that dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, which are crushed before the moth? 20They are destroyed from morning to evening: they perish for ever without any regarding it. 21Doth not their excellency which is in them go away? they die, even without wisdom.
Read all of Job 4Job 4:19 word by word
אַ֤ף׀ שֹׁכְנֵ֬י בָֽתֵּי־חֹ֗מֶר אֲשֶׁר־בֶּעָפָ֥ר יְסוֹדָ֑ם יְ֝דַכְּא֗וּם לִפְנֵי־עָֽשׁ׃Read the interlinear
- 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, I beseech thee, that thou hast made me as the clay; and wilt thou bring me into dust again?
- Job 13:12Your remembrances are like unto ashes, your bodies to bodies of clay.
- Job 33:6Behold, I am according to thy wish in God’s stead: I also am formed out of the clay.
- Genesis 2:7And Yhwh God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
- Genesis 3:19In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
- Genesis 18:27And Abraham answered and said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes:
- Ecclesiastes 12:7Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.
- 2 Corinthians 4:7But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.
- 2 Corinthians 5:1For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
- Job 13:28And he, as a rotten thing, consumeth, as a garment that is moth eaten.
- Job 14:2He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not.
- Psalms 39:11When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity, thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth: surely every man is vanity. Selah.
- Psalms 90:5Thou carriest them away as with a flood; they are as a sleep: in the morning they are like grass which groweth up.
- Psalms 103:15As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth.
- Psalms 146:4His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.
- 1 Peter 1:24For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away:
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
Revised Literal Translation — © 2018 Michael W. Jones, Sr. — GPL
Commentaries