Job 27:15
in Job 27His survivors will be buried by the plague, and their widows will not weep for them.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Those that remain of him shall be buried in death, And his widows shall make no lamentation.
KJV
Those that remain of him shall be buried in death: and his widows shall not weep.
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This verse in Job 27
Commentary
11 notes on this verseThose that remain of him,.... Of the wicked man after his death; or such that remain, and have escaped the sword and famine: shall be buried in death: the pestilence, emphatically called death by the Hebrews, as by us the mortality, see Rev 6:
This site's exposition
This is the wicked man’s portion from God
on Job 27:13-15
"This is the wicked man’s portion from God" opens a list that reads like the friends' doctrine. Readers divide over whether Job concedes the wicked meet a bad end or rehearses the friends' creed to expose its thinness. Some modern critics give part of it to Zophar's missing third speech.
This site's exposition
His survivors will be buried by the plague
Barnes renders the Hebrew as buried by death, as though the plague dug the grave, and Gill notes that the Hebrews called the plague death. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown read their widows, as the Berean does. The plague alone buries the survivors.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
He describes what is likely to happen to the ungodly. Admittedly, things do not always go in this manner for them. Some of them, indeed, preserve their prosperity until the end of their life, as he himself, in his quandary, has taught his friends in …
The Medieval Church2 voices
As to those other members of his household, he says, "those others who follow him," his domestics and friends, "will be buried in ruin," without solemnity like people killed, and as to their wives he says, "and their widows will not be lamented," which usually …
A commentator
Gregory the DialogistMorals on the Book of Job, Book XVIII · Written before 604.
proposed
Those that remain of him shall be buried in death. And his widows shall not weep. Doubtless 'the persons left' of that tribe of heretics 'are buried in death,' for whereas they return not to the light of truth, assuredly they are sunk down in everlasting punishment by an earthly perception.
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Job's Protestation of His Sincerity. 1 Moreover Job continued his parable, and said, 2 As God liveth, who hath taken away my judgment; and the Almighty, who hath vexed my soul; 3 All the while my breath is in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils;
quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — scripture-overlap:87%@v1-3
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Those that remain of him - Those that survive him. Shall be buried in death - Hebrew “shall be buried BY death” (במות bamâveth), that is. “Death shall be the grave-digger” - or, they shall have no friends to bury them; they shall be unburied. The idea is highly poetical, and the expression is very tender. They would have no one to weep over them, and no one to prepare for them a grave; there would be no procession, no funeral dirge, no train of weeping attendants; even the members of their own family would not weep over them.
3 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
The plague of the Middle Ages was called "the black death." Buried by it implies that they would have none else but the death plague itself (poetically personified) to perform their funeral rites, that is, would have no one. his--rather, "their widows." Transitions from singular to plural are frequent.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
The fact is, it is probable that Job tacitly, by giving, in the twenty-eighth chapter, only a general answer, implies, that in spite of the wicked often dying, as he said, in prosperity, he does not mean to deny that the wicked are in the main dealt with according to right, and that God herein vindicates His moral government even here.
Those that remain of him - שרידיו seridaiv, his remains, whether meaning himself personally, or his family. Shall be buried in death - Shall come to utter and remediless destruction. Death shall have his full conquest over them, and the grave its complete victory. These are no common dead. All the sting, all the wound, and all the poison of sin, remains: and so evident are God’s judgments in his and their removal, that even widows shall not weep for them; the public shall not bewail them; for when the wicked perish there is shouting. Mr. Good, following the Chaldee, translates: Entombed in corruption, or in the pestilence. But I see no reason why we should desert the literal reading. Entombed in corruption gives no nervous sense in my judgment; for in corruption are the high and the low, the wicked and the good, entombed: but buried in death is at once nervous and expressive. Death itself is the place where he shall lie; he shall have no redemption, no resurrection to life; death shall ever have dominion over him. The expression is very similar to that in Luk 16:22 (note), as found in several versions and MSS.: The rich man died, and was buried in hell; and, lifting up his eyes, being in torment, he saw, etc. See my note there.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
If his sons increase they will increase for the sword. in death They will die amidst suffering and sicknesses, until his widows will be happy at their death and will not weep.
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. 3 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
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| שְׂ֭רִידָיו | seridov | survivors his | H8300 → | 28 times |
| בַּמָּ֣וֶת | bamavet | by <the> death | H4194 → | 156 times |
| יִקָּבֵ֑רוּ | yikaveru | they will be buried | H6912 → | |
| וְ֝אַלְמְנֹתָ֗יו | vealmenotav | and widows his | H490 → | 56 times |
| לֹ֣א | lo' | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| תִבְכֶּֽינָה׃ | tivkeinah | they will weep | H1058 → | 114 times |
שְׂ֭רִידָיוsurvivors his
seridovH8300 →28 times
בַּמָּ֣וֶתby <the> death
bamavetH4194 →156 times
יִקָּבֵ֑רוּthey will be buried
yikaveruH6912 →
וְ֝אַלְמְנֹתָ֗יוand widows his
vealmenotavH490 →56 times
לֹ֣אnot
lo'H3808 →5168 times
תִבְכֶּֽינָה׃they will weep
tivkeinahH1058 →114 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
Jeremiah 22:18Therefore this is what the LORD says concerning Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah: “They will not mourn for him: ‘Alas, my brother! Alas, my sister!’ They will not mourn for him: ‘Alas,…
it leads to
- Jeremiah 16:6
“Both great and small will die in this land. They will not be buried or mourned, nor will anyone cut himself or shave his head for them.
- 1 Kings 13:30
Then he laid the body in his own tomb, and they lamented over him, “Oh, my brother!”
- Jeremiah 22:10
Do not weep for the dead king; do not mourn his loss. Weep bitterly for the one who is exiled, for he will never return to see his native land.
- Jeremiah 16:4
“They will die from deadly diseases. They will not be mourned or buried, but will lie like dung on the ground. They will be finished off by sword and famine, and their corpses will…
- Jeremiah 16:6
Through
Psalms 78:64His priests fell by the sword, but their widows could not lament.
it leads to
- 1 Samuel 4:17
The messenger answered, “Israel has fled before the Philistines, and there has been a great slaughter among the people. Your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, are both dead, and the ark of God has…
- 1 Samuel 4:11
The ark of God was captured, and Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, died.
- 1 Samuel 22:18–19
So the king ordered Doeg, “You turn and strike down the priests!” And Doeg the Edomite turned and struck down the priests himself. On that day he killed eighty-five men who wore the linen…
- Ezekiel 24:23
Your turbans will remain on your heads and your sandals on your feet. You will not mourn or weep, but you will waste away because of your sins, and you will groan among yourselves.
- 1 Samuel 4:17
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Job
This page draws on 12 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on A. B. Davidson, The Book of Job, Cambridge Bible; Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments; 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 XVIII; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Olympiodorus of Alexandria, COMMENTARY ON JOB 27:14-15 and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.