Job 27:17
in Job 27what he lays up, the righteous will wear, and his silver will be divided by the innocent.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
He may prepare it, but the just shall put it on, And the innocent shall divide the silver.
KJV
He may prepare it, but the just shall put it on, and the innocent shall divide the silver.
⋯
This verse in Job 27
Commentary
10 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
The just shall put it on - The righteous shall wear it. It shall pass out of the hands of him who prepared it, into the hands of others. The meaning is, that the wicked, though they become rich, would not live to enjoy their ill-gotten gains.
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.
This site's exposition
what he lays up, the righteous will wear
The heaps of verse 16 change hands. Barnes reads the verse as the wicked man dying before he can enjoy his gains. Clarke adds that silver belongs to God, who in His providence brings it back to its proper use.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church2 voices
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.
"Truly he has indeed procured these things," that is, has expended care and labor in procuring them, yet another will have the fruit, and sometimes a good man who is not interested in this sort of thing. So he says, "but the just will wear …
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
He may prepare it,....
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.
The just shall put it on - Money is God’s property. “The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the Lord;” and though it may be abused for a time by unrighteous hands, God, in the course of his providence, brings it back to its proper use; and often the righteous possess the inheritance of the wicked.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| יָ֭כִין | yakhin | he will prepare [it] | H3559 → | 217 times |
| וְצַדִּ֣יק | vetzadik | and a righteous [person] | H6662 → | 206 times |
| יִלְבָּ֑שׁ | yilbash | he will wear [it] | H3847 → | 110 times |
| וְ֝כֶ֗סֶף | vekhesef | and [the] silver | H3701 → | 403 times |
| נָקִ֥י | naki | [the] innocent | H5355 → | 43 times |
| יַחֲלֹֽק׃ | yachalok | he will divide up | H2505 → | 65 times |
יָ֭כִיןhe will prepare [it]
yakhinH3559 →217 times
וְצַדִּ֣יקand a righteous [person]
vetzadikH6662 →206 times
יִלְבָּ֑שׁhe will wear [it]
yilbashH3847 →110 times
וְ֝כֶ֗סֶףand [the] silver
vekhesefH3701 →403 times
נָקִ֥י[the] innocent
nakiH5355 →43 times
יַחֲלֹֽק׃he will divide up
yachalokH2505 →65 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
Proverbs 13:22A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children, but the sinner’s wealth is passed to the righteous.
it leads to
- Job 27:16–17
Though he heaps up silver like dust and piles up a wardrobe like clay,
Reached by 3 separate paths from here.
- Ecclesiastes 2:26
To the man who is pleasing in His sight, He gives wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner He assigns the task of gathering and accumulating that which he will hand over…
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Proverbs 28:8
He who increases his wealth by interest and usury lays it up for one who is kind to the poor.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Psalms 37:25
I once was young and now am old, yet never have I seen the righteous abandoned or their children begging for bread.
- Psalms 112:2
His descendants will be mighty in the land; the generation of the upright will be blessed.
- Job 27:16–17
Through
Ecclesiastes 2:26To the man who is pleasing in His sight, He gives wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner He assigns the task of gathering and accumulating that which he will hand over…
it leads to
- Proverbs 13:22
A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children, but the sinner’s wealth is passed to the righteous.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Isaiah 3:10–11
Tell the righteous it will be well with them, for they will enjoy the fruit of their labor.
- John 16:24
Until now you have not asked for anything in My name. Ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete.
- Proverbs 13:22
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
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, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments; 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.