Job 17:13
in Job 17If I look for Sheol as my home, if I spread out my bed in darkness,
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
If I look for Sheol as my house; If I have spread my couch in the darkness;
KJV
If I wait, the grave is mine house: I have made my bed in the darkness.
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This verse in Job 17
Commentary
11 notes on this verseVer. 13. If I wait, hell is mine house; and I have made my bed in the darkness. For the former Saints could undergo adversity, and yet could not, when brought out of the body, be at once freed from the regions of hell; in that He had not yet come, Who should descend thereinto without sin, that He might set free those, who were there bound by right of sin.
This site's exposition
They have turned night into day
on Job 17:12-14
With "If I look for Sheol as my home" the grave becomes his home. He gives corruption and the worm the names of father, mother and sister, the relations he has lost. Delitzsch notes the boldness of naming decay as kin.
This site's exposition
spread out my bed in darkness
Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, after Umbreit, see the condition answered in verse 15: if Sheol is his home, where then is his hope? Sheol here is the grave. Henry notes that Job tries to make peace with the grave by calling it a house.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
But since Eliphaz had invited him to tolerate all his adversities patiently from future expectation, he shows as a consequence what seems to be left to him in the future on the part of temporal things. So he says, "If I am patient," that is …
The Puritans and the Awakening4 voices
Wait - For deliverance, I should be disappointed; for I am upon the borders of the grave, I expect no rest but in the dark grave, for which therefore I prepare myself. I endeavour to make it easy, by keeping my conscience pure, by seeing Christ lying in this bed, (so turning it into a bed of spices) and by looking beyond it to the resurrection.
Whatever we expect, let us be sure to expect that; for that may prevent other things which we expect, but nothing will prevent that. But see how he endeavours not only to reconcile himself to the grave, but to recommend it to himself: "It is my house." The grave is a house; to the wicked it is a prison-house ( ch. xxiv.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
If I wait, the grave is mine house,....
9 The righteous also shall hold on his way, and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger. Job's discourse is here somewhat broken and interrupted, and he passes suddenly from one thing to another, as is usual with men in trouble; but we may reduce what is here said to three heads:-- I.
3 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
If I wait - Or more accurately, “truly I expect that the grave will be my home.” The word rendered “if” (אם 'ı̂m) is often used in such a sense. The meaning is, “I look certainly to the grave as my home. I have made up my mind to it, and have no other expectation.” The grave - Hebrew שׁאול she'ôl. It may mean here either the grave, or the region of departed spirits, to which he expected soon to descend. Mine house - My home; my permanent abode.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Rather, "if I wait for this grave (Sheol, or the unseen world) as my house, and make my bed in the darkness (Job 17:14), and say to corruption," rather, "to the pit" or "grave," &c. Where then is my hope? [UMBREIT]. The apodosis is at Job 17:15.
The grave is mine house - Let my life be long or short, the grave at last will be my home. I expect soon to lie down in darkness - there is my end: I cannot reasonably hope for any thing else.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
They turn night into day These mockers turn night into day for me, for I cannot sleep at night because of the trouble of the mockings.
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
To the pit I have called, ‘You are my father,’ to lodge there many days as though it was my father, since this is my hope.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 5 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
7 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אִם־ | ʾim- | if | H518 → | 1069 times |
| אֲ֭קַוֶּה | ʾakaveh | I will hope for | H6960 → | 49 times |
| שְׁא֣וֹל | sheol | Sheol | H7585 → | 66 times |
| בֵּיתִ֑י | beiti | home my | H1004 → | 2046 times |
| בַּ֝חֹ֗שֶׁךְ | bachoshekh | in the darkness | H2822 → | 80 times |
| רִפַּ֥דְתִּי | ripadti | I have spread out | H7502 → | |
| יְצוּעָֽי׃ | yetzuai | beds my | H3326 → |
אִם־if
ʾim-H518 →1069 times
אֲ֭קַוֶּהI will hope for
ʾakavehH6960 →49 times
שְׁא֣וֹלSheol
sheolH7585 →66 times
בֵּיתִ֑יhome my
beitiH1004 →2046 times
בַּ֝חֹ֗שֶׁךְin the darkness
bachoshekhH2822 →80 times
רִפַּ֥דְתִּיI have spread out
ripadtiH7502 →
יְצוּעָֽי׃beds my
yetzuaiH3326 →
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 139:8If I ascend to the heavens, You are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, You are there.
it leads to
- Amos 9:2–4
Though they dig down to Sheol, from there My hand will take them; and though they climb up to heaven, from there I will pull them down.
- Job 34:21–22
For His eyes are on the ways of a man, and He sees his every step.
- Jonah 2:2
saying: “In my distress I called to the LORD, and He answered me. From the belly of Sheol I called for help, and You heard my voice.
- Amos 9:2–4
Through
Job 14:14When a man dies, will he live again? All the days of my hard service I will wait, until my renewal comes.
it leads to
- 1 Corinthians 15:51–52
Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed—
- Acts 26:8
Why would any of you consider it incredible that God raises the dead?
- Job 7:1
“Is not man consigned to labor on earth? Are not his days like those of a hired hand?
- Psalms 27:14
Wait patiently for the LORD; be strong and courageous. Wait patiently for the LORD!
- John 5:28–29
Do not be amazed at this, for the hour is coming when all who are in their graves will hear His voice
- 1 Corinthians 15:51–52
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); Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Book of Job; Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book XIII; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; 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.