Job 3:19
in Job 3Both small and great are there, and the slave is freed from his master.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
The small and the great are there: And the servant is free from his master.
KJV
The small and great are there; and the servant is free from his master.
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This verse in Job 3
Commentary
9 notes on this verseMORAL INTERPRETATION. The small and great are there; the servant is free from his master. Forasmuch as there is to us in this life a difference in works, doubtless there will be in the future life a difference in degrees of dignity, that whereas here one surpasses another in desert, there one may excel another in reward. Hence Truth says in the Gospel, In My Father's house are many mansions. But in those 'many mansions,' the very diversity of rewards will be in some measure in harmony.
This site's exposition
with kings and counselors of the earth
on Job 3:14-19
In Job's grave, kings lie beside a stillborn child, the greatest men he can name and the least death he can imagine at one rest. "There the wicked cease from raging, and there the weary find rest" is the chapter's most quoted line, a longing for an end to trouble.
This site's exposition
Both small and great are there
Barnes reads small and great as old and young, high and low, all levelled by death. In the grave the slave is freed from his master, and Matthew Henry and Wesley draw a lesson for masters to use their power gently. Every rank rests in the same grave.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
He shows this is true by adding, "The small and the great are there," on an equal basis because smallness and greatness are reckoned in this life according to the inequality of earthly prosperity, when this is taken away they return to their natural equality. …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
): The small and great are there, there the same, there all one, all alike free among the dead. The tedious pomp and state which attend the great are at an end there. All the inconveniences of a poor and low condition are likewise over; death and the grave know no difference.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
Small and great - Persons of all qualities and conditions. Are there - In the same place and state, all those distinctions being forever abolished. A good reason, why those who have power should use it moderately, and those that are in subjection should take it patiently.
The small and great are there,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
The small and the great are there - The old and the young, the high and the low. Death levels all. It shows no respect to age; it spares none because they are vigorous, young, or beautiful. This sentiment has probably been expressed in various forms in all languages, for all people are made deeply sensible of its truth. The Classic reader will recall the ancient proverb, Mors sceptra ligonibus aequat, And the language of Horace: Aequae lege Necessitas Sortitur insignes et imos. Omne capax movet urna nomen.
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
The small and great are there - All sorts and conditions of men are equally blended in the grave, and ultimately reduced to one common dust; and between the bond and free there is no difference. The grave is “The appointed place of rendezvous, where all These travelers meet.” Equality is absolute among the sons of men in their entrance into and exit from the world: all the intermediate state is disparity. All men begin and end life alike; and there is no difference between the king and the cottager. A contemplation of this should equally humble the great and the small. The saying is trite, but it is true: - Pallida mors aequo pulsat pede pauperum tabernas, Regumque turres. Hor. Odar. lib. i., Od. iv., ver. 13. “With equal pace impartial Fate Knocks at the palace as the cottage gate.” Death is that state, “Where they an equal honor share Who buried or unburied are. Where Agamemnon knows no more Than Irus he contemn’d before. Where fair Achilles and Thersites lie, Equally naked, poor, and dry.” And why do not the living lay these things to heart? There is a fine saying in Seneca ad Marciam, cap. 20, on this subject, which may serve as a comment on this place: Mors-servitutem invito domino remittit; haec captivorum catenas levat; haec e carcere eduxit, quos exire imperium impotens vetuerat. Haec est in quo nemo humilitatem suam sensit; haec quae nulli paruit; haec quae nihil quicquam alieno fecit arbitrio. Haec, ubi res communes fortuna male divisit, et aequo jure genitos alium alii donavit, exaequat omnia. - “Death, in spite of the master, manumits the slave. It loosens the chains of the prisoners. It brings out of the dungeon those whom impotent authority had forbidden to go at large. This is the state in which none is sensible of his humiliation. Death obeys no man. It does nothing according to the will of another. […]
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| קָטֹ֣ן | katon | small | H6996 → | |
| וְ֭גָדוֹל | vegadol | and great | H1419 → | 526 times |
| שָׁ֣ם | sham | [is] there | H8033 → | 834 times |
| ה֑וּא | hu' | he | H1931 → | 1879 times |
| וְ֝עֶ֗בֶד | veeved | and a slave | H5650 → | 799 times |
| חָפְשִׁ֥י | chafeshi | [is] free | H2670 → | |
| מֵאֲדֹנָֽיו׃ | meadonav | from master<s> his | H113 → |
קָטֹ֣ןsmall
katonH6996 →
וְ֭גָדוֹלand great
vegadolH1419 →526 times
שָׁ֣ם[is] there
shamH8033 →834 times
ה֑וּאhe
hu'H1931 →1879 times
וְ֝עֶ֗בֶדand a slave
veevedH5650 →799 times
חָפְשִׁ֥י[is] free
chafeshiH2670 →
מֵאֲדֹנָֽיו׃from master<s> his
meadonavH113 →
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
Hebrews 9:27Just as man is appointed to die once, and after that to face judgment,
it leads to
- 2 Corinthians 5:10
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive his due for the things done in the body, whether good or bad.
- Ecclesiastes 12:7
before the dust returns to the ground from which it came and the spirit returns to God who gave it.
- Ecclesiastes 12:14
For God will bring every deed into judgment, along with every hidden thing, whether good or evil.
- Acts 17:31
For He has set a day when He will judge the world with justice by the Man He has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising Him from the dead.”
- 2 Samuel 14:14
For surely we will die and be like water poured out on the ground, which cannot be recovered. Yet God does not take away a life; but He devises ways that the banished one…
- 2 Corinthians 5:10
Through
Ecclesiastes 12:7before the dust returns to the ground from which it came and the spirit returns to God who gave it.
it leads to
- Daniel 12:2
And many who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake, some to everlasting life, but others to shame and everlasting contempt.
- Ecclesiastes 3:20–21
All go to one place; all come from dust, and all return to dust.
- Psalms 146:4
When his spirit departs, he returns to the ground; on that very day his plans perish.
- Daniel 12:2
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 on the Book of Job; 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); Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book IV; 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.