Job 27:19
in Job 27He lies down wealthy, but will do so no more; when he opens his eyes, all is gone.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
He lieth down rich, but he shall not be gathered to his fathers; He openeth his eyes, and he is not.
KJV
The rich man shall lie down, but he shall not be gathered: he openeth his eyes, and he is not.
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This verse in Job 27
Commentary
10 notes on this verseWhen the rich man sleepeth, he shall take nothing away with him, he shall open his eyes and shall find nought. In harmony with which same sentence the Psalmist saith, All the foolish in heart are troubled, they have slept their sleep, and all the men of riches have found nothing in their hands. For in order that the rich after death may 'find something in their hand,' it is told to them before death, in whose hands they should place their riches.
This site's exposition
He lies down wealthy, but will do so no more
on Job 27:19-21
The man "lies down wealthy, but will do so no more". "Terrors overtake him like a flood; a tempest sweeps him away in the night", which moves the list from slow loss to sudden ruin. "The east wind carries him away", the scorching desert wind acting with its own violence.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
He shows how he loses the goods he had acquired when he says, "When a rich man goes to sleep," when he dies, "he will take nothing" of his possessions with him to the other life. "He will open his eyes," in the resurrection, "and …
The Puritans and the Awakening4 voices
Not gathered - Instead of that honourable interment with his fathers, his carcase shall lie like dung upon the earth. One openeth his eyes - That is, while a man can open his eyes, in the twinkling of an eye. He is as if he had never been, dead and gone, and his family and name extinct with him.
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 rich man shall lie down, but he shall not be gathered,....
His cares increase his fears, and both together make him uneasy, so that, when we attend him to his bed, we do not find him happy there. But, in the close, we are called to attend his exit, and see how miserable he is in death and after death. (1.) He is miserable in death.
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)
The rich man - That is, the rich man who is wicked. Shall lie down - Shalt die - for so the connection demands. But he shall not be gathered - In an honorable burial. The slain in battle are gathered together for burial; but he shall be unburied. The expressions “to be gathered,” “to be gathered to one’s fathers,” frequently occur in the Scriptures, and seem to be used to denote a peaceful and happy death and an honorable burial.
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 rich man shall lie down - In the grave. But he shall not be gathered - Neither have a respectable burial among men, nor be gathered with the righteous in the kingdom of God. It may be that Job alludes here to an opinion relative to the state of certain persons after death, prevalent in all nations in ancient times, viz., that those whose funeral rites had not been duly performed, wander about as ghosts, and find no rest. He openeth his eyes - In the morning of the resurrection. And he is not - He is utterly lost and undone for ever. This seems to be the plain sense of the passage; and so all the versions appear to have understood it; but Reiske and some others, by making יאסף yeaseph an Arabic word, signifying, not the idea of gathering, but care, anxiety, etc., have quite altered this sense of the passage; and Mr. Good, who copies them, translates thus: Let the rich man lie down, and care not. I see no manner of occasion to resort to this interpretation, which, in my judgment, gives a sense inferior to that given above, or to the following: The rich man shall lie down - go to his rest, fully persuaded that his property is in perfect safety; but he shall not be gathered, or he shall not gather - make any farther addition to his stores: he openeth his eyes in the morning, when he is not - marauders in the night have stripped him of all his property, as in the case of Job himself; a case quite probable, and not unfrequent in Arabia, when a hostile tribe makes a sudden incursion, and carries off an immense booty. But I prefer the first meaning, as it is obtained without crucifying the text. Coverdale translates: When the rich man dyeth, he carieth nothinge with him: he is gone in the twincklinge of an eye.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| עָשִׁ֣יר | ʾashir | rich | H6223 → | |
| יִ֭שְׁכַּב | yishkav | he will lie down | H7901 → | 212 times |
| וְלֹ֣א | velo' | and not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| יֵאָסֵ֑ף | yeasef | he will be removed | H622 → | 200 times |
| עֵינָ֖יו | ʾeinav | eyes his | H5869 → | 887 times |
| פָּקַ֣ח | pakach | he opens | H6491 → | |
| וְאֵינֶֽנּוּ׃ | veeinenu | and there not [is] it | H369 → | 789 times |
עָשִׁ֣ירrich
ʾashirH6223 →
יִ֭שְׁכַּבhe will lie down
yishkavH7901 →212 times
וְלֹ֣אand not
velo'H3808 →5168 times
יֵאָסֵ֑ףhe will be removed
yeasefH622 →200 times
עֵינָ֖יוeyes his
ʾeinavH5869 →887 times
פָּקַ֣חhe opens
pakachH6491 →
וְאֵינֶֽנּוּ׃and there not [is] it
veeinenuH369 →789 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
Matthew 3:12His winnowing fork is in His hand to clear His threshing floor and to gather His wheat into the barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
it leads to
- Malachi 4:1
“For behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace, when all the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble; the day is coming when I will set them ablaze,” says the LORD of…
- Matthew 13:30
Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat into my barn.’”
- Luke 3:17
His winnowing fork is in His hand to clear His threshing floor and to gather the wheat into His barn; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
- Isaiah 41:16
You will winnow them, and a wind will carry them away; a gale will scatter them. But you will rejoice in the LORD; you will glory in the Holy One of Israel.
- Jeremiah 51:2
I will send strangers to Babylon to winnow her and empty her land; for they will come against her from every side in her day of disaster.
- Malachi 4:1
Through
Job 24:24They are exalted for a moment, then they are gone; they are brought low and gathered up like all others; they are cut off like heads of grain.
it leads to
- Psalms 37:10
Yet a little while, and the wicked will be no more; though you look for them, they will not be found.
- Psalms 37:10
Through
Psalms 58:9Before your pots can feel the burning thorns— whether green or dry— He will sweep them away.
it leads to
- Proverbs 10:25
When the whirlwind passes, the wicked are no more, but the righteous are secure forever.
- Psalms 118:12
They swarmed around me like bees, but they were extinguished like burning thorns; in the name of the LORD I cut them off.
- Proverbs 10:25
Where this verse is studied
On this page
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 on the Book of Job; 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 Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.