Job 17 · Verse 13

Job 17:13

If I wait, the grave is mine house: I have made my bed in the darkness.
Job 17:13, King James Version

Job 17:13 in other translations

BSBIf I look for Sheol as my home, if I spread out my bed in darkness,
WEBIf I look for Sheol as my house, if I have spread my couch in the darkness,
ASVIf I look for Sheol as my house; If I have spread my couch in the darkness;
YLTIf I wait--Sheol is my house, In darkness I have spread out my couch.
DARBYIf I wait, Sheol is my house; I spread my bed in the darkness:
BBEIf I am waiting for the underworld as my house, if I have made my bed in the dark;
WebsterIf I wait, the grave is my house: I have made my bed in the darkness.

What does Job 17:13 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
13. Rather, "if I wait for this grave (Sheol, or the unseen world) as my house, and make my bed in the darkness (Job 17:14), and say to corruption," rather, "to the pit" or "grave," &c. (Job 17:15). Where then is my hope? [Umbreit]. The apodosis is at Job 17:15.

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 13 The grave is mine house - Let my life be long or short, the grave at last will be my home. I expect soon to lie down in darkness - there is my end: I cannot reasonably hope for any thing else.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Job 17:10-16

Job's friends had pretended to comfort him with the hope of his return to a prosperous estate; he here shows that those do not go wisely about the work of comforting the afflicted, who fetch their comforts from the possibility of recovery in this world. It is our wisdom to comfort ourselves, and others, in distress, with that which will not fail; the promise of God, his love and grace, and a well-grounded hope of…

Read the full comment on Job 17:10-16 →

Job 17:13 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

אִם\־'im-ifH518
אֲ֭קַוֶּה'A.ka.vehI will hope forH6960
שְׁא֣וֹלshe.'olSheolH7585
בֵּיתִ֑יbei.Tihome myH1004
בַּ֝חֹ֗שֶׁךְba.Cho.shekhin the darknessH2822
רִפַּ֥דְתִּיri.Pad.tiI have spread outH7502
יְצוּעָֽי\׃ye.tzu.'Aibeds myH3326

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Job 17:13

  • Job 10:21-22

    Before I go whence I shall not return, even to the land of darkness and the shadow of death; A land of darkness, as darkness itself; and of the shadow of death, without any order, and where the light is as darkness.

  • Job 30:23

    For I know that thou wilt bring me to death, and to the house appointed for all living.

  • Job 3:13

    For now should I have lain still and been quiet, I should have slept: then had I been at rest,

  • Psalms 139:8

    If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.

  • Job 14:14

    If a man die, shall he live again? all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come.

  • Job 17:1

    My breath is corrupt, my days are extinct, the graves are ready for me.

  • Psalms 27:14

    Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.

  • Lamentations 3:25-26

    The Lord is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord.

  • Isaiah 57:2

    He shall enter into peace: they shall rest in their beds, each one walking in his uprightness.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
If I wait.
14:14; Ps 27:14; La 3:25,26
the grave.
1; 10:21,22; 30:23
I have made.
Ps 139:8; Isa 57:2

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Job 17:12

    They change the night into day: the light is short because of darkness.

  • Job 17:13

    If I wait, the grave is mine house: I have made my bed in the darkness.

  • Job 17:14

    I have said to corruption, Thou art my father: to the worm, Thou art my mother, and my sister.

Read all of Job 17

Job 17:13 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Si yo espero, el sepulcro es mi casa: haré mi cama en las tinieblas.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Si j’espère, le shéol est ma maison, j’étends mon lit dans les ténèbres;
German
Elberfelder 1871		Wenn ich hoffe, so ist der Scheol mein Haus, in der Finsternis bette ich mein Lager.
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		Si sustinuero, infernus domus mea est, et in tenebris stravi lectulum meum.