Job 18:15
in Job 18Fire resides in his tent; burning sulfur rains down on his dwelling.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
There shall dwell in his tent that which is none of his: Brimstone shall be scattered upon his habitation.
KJV
It shall dwell in his tabernacle, because it is none of his: brimstone shall be scattered upon his habitation.
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This verse in Job 18
Commentary
10 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
It shall dwell in his tabernacle - It is uncertain what is to be understood as referred to here. Some suppose that the word to be understood is soul, and that the meaning is “his soul,” that is, he himself, “shall dwell in his tent.” Rosenmuller, Noyes, Wemyss, and others, suppose that the word is terror. “Terror (בלהה ballâhâh) shall dwell in his tent,” the same word which is used in the plural in the previous verse.
This site's exposition
Fire resides in his tent
on Job 18:15-19
In "burning sulfur rains down on his dwelling" Bildad recalls the judgment on Sodom. With "he has no name in the land" the ruin passes beyond death into the loss of all memory of him. Then "He has no offspring or posterity among his people" erases his whole line.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
These words mean that the punishment of the impious will be similar to the massacre of the Sodomites. "Their roots dry beneath, and their branches wither above" so that nothing useful to the impious may remain anywhere, beneath or above the ground.
The Medieval Church1 voice
When he has been taken from his house, the dead man's domestics remain with whom he had society in this life, and as to this he then says, "May the companions of the one who no longer lives," that is, of the dead man who …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
In this he seems, all along, to have an eye to Job's complaints of the miserable condition he was in, that he was in the dark, bewildered, ensnared, terrified, and hastening out of the world. "This," says Bildad, "is the condition of a wicked man; and therefore thou art one." Second Address of Eliphaz.
Some think he here upbraids Job with the burning of his sheep and servants with fire from heaven. The reason is here given why his tabernacle is thus marked for ruin: Because it is none of his; that is, it was unjustly got, and kept, from the rightful owner, and therefore let him not expect either the comfort or the continuance of it.
Because - Because it is none of his own, being got from others by deceit or violence. Brimstone - It shall be utterly destroyed, as it were, by fire and brimstone. He seems to allude both to the destruction of Sodom, which happened not long before these times, and to the judgment which befell Job, chap. i, 16.
3 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
It shall dwell in his tabernacle,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
It--"Terror" shall haunt, &c., and not as UMBREIT, "another," which the last clause of the verse disproves. none of his--It is his no longer. brimstone--probably comparing the calamity of Job by the "fire of God" (Job 1:16) to the destruction of guilty Sodom by fire and brimstone (Ge 19:24).
It shall dwell in his tabernacle - Desolation is here personified, and it is said that it shall be the inhabitant, its former owner being destroyed. Brimstone shall be scattered upon his habitation, so that, like Sodom and Gomorrah, it may be an everlasting monument of the Divine displeasure. In the Persian poet Saady, we find a couplet which contains a similar sentiment: - Purdeh daree meekund dar keesri Keesar ankeboot Boomee Noobat meezund ber kumbed Afraseeab. “The spider holds the veil in the palace of Caesar; The owl stands sentinel on the watchtower of Afrasiab.” The palaces of those mighty kings are so desolate that the spider is the only chamberlain, and the owl the only sentinel. The web of the former is all that remains as a substitute for the costly veil furnished by the chamberlain in the palace of the Roman monarch; and the hooting of the latter is the only remaining substitute for the sound of drums and trumpets by which the guards were accustomed to be relieved at the watchtower of the Persian king. The word (Persic) Keesur, the same as kaisar or Caesar, is the term which the Asiatics always use when they designate the Roman emperor. Afrasiab was an ancient king who invaded and conquered Persia about seven hundred years before the Christian era. After having reigned twelve years, he was defeated and slain by Zalzer and his son, the famous Rustem. The present reigning family of Constantinople claim descent from this ancient monarch. Brimstone shall be scattered upon his habitation - This may either refer to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, as has already been intimated, or to an ancient custom of fumigating houses with brimstone, in order to purify them from defilement. Pliny says, Hist. Nat., lib. xxxv., c. 15, speaking of the uses of sulphur, Habet et in religionibus locum ad expiandas suffitu domos; which Dr. […]
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
He shall be torn away from his wife Heb. מאהלו, lit. from his tent.
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. 6 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
8 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| תִּשְׁכּ֣וֹן | tishkon | it dwells | H7931 → | 129 times |
| בְּ֭אָהֳלוֹ | beoholo | in tent his | H168 → | 345 times |
| מִבְּלִי | mibeli- | because not | H1097 → | 58 times |
| ל֑וֹ | lo | [belonging] to him | ||
| יְזֹרֶ֖ה | yezoreh | it is scattered | H2219 → | |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | over | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| נָוֵ֣הוּ | navehu | estate his | H5116 → | 35 times |
| גָפְרִֽית׃ | gaferit | sulfur | H1614 → |
תִּשְׁכּ֣וֹןit dwells
tishkonH7931 →129 times
בְּ֭אָהֳלוֹin tent his
beoholoH168 →345 times
מִבְּלִיbecause not
mibeli-H1097 →58 times
ל֑וֹ[belonging] to him
lo
יְזֹרֶ֖הit is scattered
yezorehH2219 →
עַל־over
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
נָוֵ֣הוּestate his
navehuH5116 →35 times
גָפְרִֽית׃sulfur
gaferitH1614 →
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 11:6On the wicked He will rain down fiery coals and sulfur; a scorching wind will be their portion.
it leads to
- Ezekiel 38:22
I will execute judgment upon him with plague and bloodshed. I will pour out torrents of rain, hailstones, fire, and sulfur on him and on his troops and on the many nations with him.
- Genesis 19:24
Then the LORD rained down sulfur and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah—from the LORD out of the heavens.
- Luke 17:29
But on the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all.
- Ezekiel 13:13
Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: In My wrath I will release a windstorm, and in My anger torrents of rain and hail will fall with destructive fury.
- Psalms 75:8
For a cup is in the hand of the LORD, full of foaming wine mixed with spices. He pours from His cup, and all the wicked of the earth drink it down to the…
- Ezekiel 38:22
Through
Deuteronomy 29:23All its soil will be a burning waste of sulfur and salt, unsown and unproductive, with no plant growing on it, just like the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the…
it leads to
- Zephaniah 2:9
Therefore, as surely as I live,” declares the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, “surely Moab will be like Sodom and the Ammonites like Gomorrah—a place of weeds and salt pits, a perpetual…
- Jeremiah 17:6
He will be like a shrub in the desert; he will not see when prosperity comes. He will dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives.
- Genesis 19:24–25
Then the LORD rained down sulfur and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah—from the LORD out of the heavens.
- Zephaniah 2:9
About Job
This page draws on 9 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); Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Job; Ephrem the Syrian, COMMENTARY ON JOB 18:15-16; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; 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.