Job 27:16
in Job 27Though he heaps up silver like dust and piles up a wardrobe like clay,
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Though he heap up silver as the dust, And prepare raiment as the clay;
KJV
Though he heap up silver as the dust, and prepare raiment as the clay;
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This verse in Job 27
Commentary
9 notes on this verseThough he heap up silver - Though he amass riches in the greatest abundance, he shall not enjoy them. Unsanctified wealth is a curse to its possessor. Money, of all earthly possessions, is the most dangerous, as it is the readiest agent to do good or evil. He that perverts it is doubly cursed, because it affords him the most immediate means of sinful gratification; and he can sin more in an hour through this, than he can in a day or week by any other kind of property.
This site's exposition
Though he heaps up silver like dust
on Job 27:16-18
The wicked man "heaps up silver like dust and piles up a wardrobe like clay". Yet "what he lays up, the righteous will wear, and his silver will be divided by the innocent". The effort is immense, and what it builds is never meant to last.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church2 voices
As the happiness of his sons and friends is frail and perishable, the same is true of the manmade riches he possesses. Among these are certain artificial riches like money, which was devised as the measure of the exchange of things, as Aristotle says. As …
A commentator
Gregory the DialogistMorals on the Book of Job, Book XVIII · Written before 604.
proposed
Though he heap up silver as the earth, and prepare raiment as the mud; he may prepare, but the just shall put it on, and the innocent shall divide the silver. Silver is used to be interpreted the clearness of sacred Writ, as it is elsewhere said; The words of the Lord are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth.
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
The Egyptians' jewels were the Israelites' pay. Solomon observes ( Eccl. ii. 26 ) that God makes the sinners drudges to the righteous; for the sinner he gives travail to gather and heap up, that he may give to him that is good before God. [2.] They shall do good with it.
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
Though he heap up silver as the dust,....
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
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.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Though he heap up silver as the dust - That is, in great quantities - as plenty as dust; compare 1Ki 10:27, “And the king made silver to be in Jerusalem as stones.” And prepare raiment - Oriental wealth consisted much in changes of raiment. Sir John Chardin says that in the East it is common to gather together immense quantities of furniture and clothes. According to D’Herbelot, Bokteri, an illustrious poet; of Cufah in the ninth century, had so many presents made him in the course of his life, that when he died he was found possessed of an hundred complete suits of clothes, two hundred shirts, and five hundred turbans. compare Ezr 2:69, and Neh 7:70 see Bochart IIieroz. P. II. Lib. iv. c. xxv. p. 617. This species of treasure is mentioned by Virgil; Dives equom, dives pictai vestis et auri. Aeneid ix. 26. The reason why wealth consisted so much in changes of raiment, is to be found in the fondness for display in Oriental countries, and in the fact that as fashions never change there, such treasures are valuable until they are worn out. In the ever-varying fashions of the West such treasures are comparatively of much less value. As the clay - As the dust of the streets; or as abundant as mire.
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 |
| יִצְבֹּ֣ר | yitzbor | he will heap up | H6651 → | |
| כֶּעָפָ֣ר | keafar | like <the> dust | H6083 → | 110 times |
| כָּ֑סֶף | kasef | silver | H3701 → | 403 times |
| וְ֝כַחֹ֗מֶר | vekhachomer | and like <the> clay | H2563 → | 31 times |
| יָכִ֥ין | yakhin | he will prepare | H3559 → | 217 times |
| מַלְבּֽוּשׁ׃ | malbush | clothing | H4403 → |
אִם־if
ʾim-H518 →1069 times
יִצְבֹּ֣רhe will heap up
yitzborH6651 →
כֶּעָפָ֣רlike <the> dust
keafarH6083 →110 times
כָּ֑סֶףsilver
kasefH3701 →403 times
וְ֝כַחֹ֗מֶרand like <the> clay
vekhachomerH2563 →31 times
יָכִ֥יןhe will prepare
yakhinH3559 →217 times
מַלְבּֽוּשׁ׃clothing
malbushH4403 →
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
Matthew 6:19Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.
it leads to
- Hebrews 13:5
Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, for God has said: “Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you.”
- 1 John 2:15–16
Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
- Luke 12:21
This is how it will be for anyone who stores up treasure for himself but is not rich toward God.”
- Proverbs 23:4–5
Do not wear yourself out to get rich; be wise enough to restrain yourself.
- Proverbs 11:4
Riches are worthless in the day of wrath, but righteousness brings deliverance from death.
- Hebrews 13:5
Through
James 5:2Your riches have rotted and moths have eaten your clothes.
it leads to
- Matthew 6:19–20
Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.
- Job 13:28
So man wastes away like something rotten, like a moth-eaten garment.
- Luke 12:33
Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide yourselves with purses that will not wear out, an inexhaustible treasure in heaven, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys.
- Matthew 6:19–20
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Job
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, Book XVIII; 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); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.