Job 34:15
in Job 34all flesh would perish together and mankind would return to the dust.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
All flesh shall perish together, And man shall turn again unto dust.
KJV
All flesh shall perish together, and man shall turn again unto dust.
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This verse in Job 34
Commentary
7 notes on this verseAll flesh shall perish together,.... Not one by one, or one after another, as they generally do, but all together; as when the flood swept away the world of the ungodly.
This site's exposition
Who gave Him charge over the earth
on Job 34:13-15
The question “Who gave Him charge over the earth” grounds God's justice in His place as Creator. If He were to “withdraw His Spirit and breath”, “all flesh would perish together”. Davidson notes that Elihu anticipates the Lord's answer, an argument from unaccountable power Job will meet from another mouth.
This site's exposition
mankind would return to the dust
John Gill hears all flesh perishing together as one stroke on the whole race, as at the flood. Albert Barnes draws the lesson for Job. If God may take life from all, a man has no ground to charge Him with injustice over lost health, comfort or friends.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church2 voices
When the spirit has been taken away which was divinely given to man, the consequence is that the corporeal life fails, and so he says, "All flesh will be destroyed together," for the species of flesh will cease, and will be resolved into its component …
A commentator
Gregory the DialogistMorals on the Book of Job, Book XXIV · Written before 604.
proposed
All flesh shall fail together, and man shall return to ashes. For all flesh fails together, when it is no longer a slave to its own emotions; because the spirit presiding therein restrains all its waverings, and destroys as it were with the sword of Its severity all evil which lived therein. Jeremiah had, in truth, slain himself with this sword of discipline, when he said, After Thou hadst converted me, I did penance, and after Thou hadst shewed to me, I smote my thigh. [Jer. 31, 19] For what is understood by the thigh, but carnal pleasure?
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
21 For his eyes are upon the ways of man, and he seeth all his goings. 22 There is no darkness, nor shadow of death, where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves. 23 For he will not lay upon man more than right; that he should enter into judgment with God.
quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — verbatim-scripture
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
All flesh shall perish together - If God chose, he would have a right to cut down the whole race. How then shall people complain of the loss of health, comforts, and friends, and presume to arraign God as if he were unjust?
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
If He puts His heart on man to destroy him, why should He come upon him with a pretext? He can immediately gather in to Himself.. His spirit and His soul His spirit and His soul that He blew into him, and no one will stop Him.
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. 6 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
8 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| יִגְוַ֣ע | yigva' | it will expire | H1478 → | 24 times |
| כָּל־ | kol- | all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| בָּשָׂ֣ר | basar | flesh | H1320 → | 270 times |
| יָ֑חַד | yachad | together | H3162 → | 141 times |
| וְ֝אָדָ֗ם | veadam | and humankind | H120 → | 551 times |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | to | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| עָפָ֥ר | ʾafar | dust | H6083 → | 110 times |
| יָשֽׁוּב׃ | yashuv | it will return | H7725 → | 1056 times |
יִגְוַ֣עit will expire
yigva'H1478 →24 times
כָּל־all
kol-H3605 →5413 times
בָּשָׂ֣רflesh
basarH1320 →270 times
יָ֑חַדtogether
yachadH3162 →141 times
וְ֝אָדָ֗םand humankind
veadamH120 →551 times
עַל־to
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
עָפָ֥רdust
ʾafarH6083 →110 times
יָשֽׁוּב׃it will return
yashuvH7725 →1056 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
Genesis 3:19By the sweat of your brow you will eat your bread, until you return to the ground—because out of it were you taken. For dust you are, and to dust you shall return.”
it leads to
- Ecclesiastes 12:7
before the dust returns to the ground from which it came and the spirit returns to God who gave it.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Genesis 2:7
Then the LORD God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and the man became a living being.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Psalms 104:29
When You hide Your face, they are terrified; when You take away their breath, they die and return to dust.
- Ecclesiastes 12:7
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
- Genesis 3:19
By the sweat of your brow you will eat your bread, until you return to the ground—because out of it were you taken. For dust you are, and to dust you shall return.”
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- 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.
- Job 34:14–15
If He were to set His heart to it and withdraw His Spirit and breath,
- Genesis 3:19
About Job
This page draws on A. B. Davidson, The Book of Job, Cambridge Bible; 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 XXIV; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.