Job 13:28
in Job 13So man wastes away like something rotten, like a moth-eaten garment.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Though I am like a rotten thing that consumeth, Like a garment that is moth-eaten.
KJV
And he, as a rotten thing, consumeth, as a garment that is moth eaten.
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This verse in Job 13
Commentary
11 notes on this verseAnd he, as a rotten thing - I am like a vessel made of skin; rotten, because of old age, or like a garment corroded by the moth. So the Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic understood it. The word he may refer to himself.
This site's exposition
You record bitter accusations against me
on Job 13:26-28
"You record bitter accusations against me and bequeath to me the iniquities of my youth" charges God with reviving old sins to justify present suffering. "You put my feet in the stocks and stand watch over all my paths" turns a prisoner's confinement onto providence, every step marked.
This site's exposition
like a moth-eaten garment
The verse turns from Job to man, and chapter 14 takes up the same frailty. Matthew Henry and Gregory note that man wastes away from within, as the moth comes out of the garment it eats. The rotten thing carries its own ruin.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church3 voices
Fourth, someone could object that, even though Job had not committed grave sins, he had still committed some sins which are inevitable in this present life, and so he is punished for these in this way. He also rejects this saying, "Have you placed my …
Who am as a rotten thing to be consumed, and as a garment that is moth eaten. For as a garment is eaten by the moth sprung out of itself, so man containeth rottenness in himself, whereby he consumeth, and that which he is, is that whereby he consumeth that he should not be. Which may be taken in another sense also, if it be said in the voice of man when tempted; And I as a rotten thing am to consume, as a garment that is moth eaten.
"You observe the strength of my feet." The words "you observe" signify God's consideration, because we keep our eye on what we care for. And the words "my feet" refer to the firmness, because feet are supports. But these words are also analogous to the …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
He - He speaks of himself in the third person, as is usual in this and other sacred books. So the sense is, he, this poor frail creature, this body of mine; which possibly he pointed at with his finger, consumeth or pineth away.
He (that is, man) as a rotten thing, the principle of whose putrefaction is in itself, consumes, even like a moth-eaten garment, which becomes continually worse and worse. Or, He (that is, God) like rottenness, and like a moth, consumes me.
3 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
2 What ye know, the same do I know also: I am not inferior unto you. 3 Surely I would speak to the Almighty, and I desire to reason with God. 4 But ye are forgers of lies, ye are all physicians of no value.
quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — verbatim-scripture
And he as a rotten thing consumeth,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
And he, as a rotten thing, consumeth - Noyes renders this, “And I, like an abandoned thing, shall waste away.” Dr. Good translates it, “Well may he dissolve as corrupttion.” Rosenmuller supposes that Job refers to himself by the word הוּא hû' - he, and that having spoken of himself in the previous verses, he now changes the mode of speech, and speaks in the third person. In illustration of this, he refers to a passage in Euripides, “Alcestes,” verse 690. The Vulgate renders it in the first person, “Qui quasi putredo consumendus sum.” The design seems to be, to represent himself as an object not worthy such consent surveillance on the part of God. God set his mark upon him; watched him with a close vigilance and a steady eye - and yet he was watching one who was turning fast to corruption, and who would soon be gone. He regarded it as unworthy of God, to be so attentive in watching over so worthless an object. This is closely connected with the following chapter, and there should have been no interruption here. The allusion to himself as feeble and decaying, leads him into the beautiful description in the following chapter of the state of man in general. The connection is something like this: - “I am afflicted and tried in various ways. My feet are in the stocks; my way is hedged up. I am weak, frail, and dying. But so it is with man universally. My condition is like that of the man at large, for “Man, the offspring of a woman, Is short-lived, and is full of trouble.” As a rotten thing, - כרקב kerâqâb. The word רקב râqab means rottenness, or caries of bones; Pro 12:4; Pro 14:30; Hos 5:12. Here it means anything that is going to decay, and the comparison is that of man to anything that is thus constantly decaying, and that will soon be wholly gone. Consumeth. - Or rather “decays,” יבלה yı̂bâlâh. […]
The words behind it
6 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְ֭הוּא | vehu' | and he | H1931 → | 1879 times |
| כְּרָקָ֣ב | kerakav | like rottenness | H7538 → | |
| יִבְלֶ֑ה | yivleh | he wears out | H1086 → | |
| כְּ֝בֶ֗גֶד | keveged | like a garment | H899 → | 217 times |
| אֲכָ֣לוֹ | ʾakhalov | [which] it eats it | H398 → | 810 times |
| עָֽשׁ׃ | ʾash | a moth | H6211 → | 12 times |
וְ֭הוּאand he
vehu'H1931 →1879 times
כְּרָקָ֣בlike rottenness
kerakavH7538 →
יִבְלֶ֑הhe wears out
yivlehH1086 →
כְּ֝בֶ֗גֶדlike a garment
kevegedH899 →217 times
אֲכָ֣לוֹ[which] it eats it
ʾakhalovH398 →810 times
עָֽשׁ׃a moth
ʾashH6211 →12 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Psalms 39:11You discipline and correct a man for his iniquity, consuming like a moth what he holds dear; surely each man is but a vapor. Selah
it leads to
- Isaiah 50:9
Surely the Lord GOD helps Me. Who is there to condemn Me? See, they will all wear out like a garment; the moths will devour them.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Hebrews 12:6
For the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and He chastises every son He receives.”
- 1 Corinthians 11:30–32
That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep.
- Revelation 3:19
Those I love, I rebuke and discipline. Therefore be earnest and repent.
- Isaiah 50:9
Through
Job 4:19how much more those who dwell in houses of clay, whose foundations are in the dust, who can be crushed like a moth!
it leads to
- Job 10:9
Please remember that You molded me like clay. Would You now return me to dust?
- Genesis 2:7
Then the LORD God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and the man became a living being.
- Genesis 3:19
By the sweat of your brow you will eat your bread, until you return to the ground—because out of it were you taken. For dust you are, and to dust you shall return.”
- Job 10:9
Through
Hosea 5:12So I am like a moth to Ephraim, and like decay to the house of Judah.
it leads to
- Isaiah 51:8
For the moth will devour them like a garment, and the worm will eat them like wool. But My righteousness will last forever, My salvation through all generations.”
- Isaiah 51:8
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Job
This page draws on 10 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job; Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book XI; Ishodad of Merv, COMMENTARY ON JOB 13:27; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.