Job 17 · Verse 14

Job 17:14

I have said to corruption, Thou art my father: to the worm, Thou art my mother, and my sister.
Job 17:14, King James Version

Job 17:14 in other translations

BSBand say to corruption, ‘You are my father,’ and to the worm, ‘My mother,’ or ‘My sister,’
WEBif I have said to corruption, ‘You are my father,’ and to the worm, ‘My mother,’ and ‘My sister,’
ASVIf I have said to corruption, Thou art my father; To the worm, Thou art my mother, and my sister;
YLTTo corruption I have called: --‘Thou art my father.' ‘My mother' and ‘my sister' --to the worm.
DARBYI cry to the grave, Thou art my father! to the worm, My mother, and my sister!
BBEIf I say to the earth, You are my father; and to the worm, My mother and my sister;
WebsterI have said to corruption, Thou art my father: to the worm, Thou art my mother, and my sister.

What does Job 17:14 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
14. Thou art my father, &c.--expressing most intimate connection (Pr 7:4). His diseased state made him closely akin to the grave and worm.

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

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 14 I have said to corruption - I came from a corrupted stock, and I must go to corruption again. The Hebrew might be thus rendered: To the ditch I have called, Thou art my father. To the worm, Thou art my mother and my sister. I am in the nearest state of affinity to dissolution and corruption: I may well call them my nearest relations, as I shall soon be blended with them.

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 17:14 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.

לַשַּׁ֣חַתla.Sha.chatto the pitH7845
קָ֭רָאתִיKa.ra.tiI have called outH7121
אָ֣בִי'A.vi[are] father myH1
אָ֑תָּה'A.tahyouH859
אִמִּ֥י'i.MiO mother myH517
וַ֝אֲחֹתִ֗יva.'a.cho.Tiand sister myH269
לָֽרִמָּֽה\׃La.ri.Mahto the maggotH7415

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

Cross references for Job 17:14

  • Psalms 16:10

    For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.

  • Job 24:20

    The womb shall forget him; the worm shall feed sweetly on him; he shall be no more remembered; and wickedness shall be broken as a tree.

  • Acts 13:34-37

    And as concerning that he raised him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption, he said on this wise, I will give you the sure mercies of David. Wherefore he saith also in another psalm, Thou shalt not suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption: But he, whom God raised again, saw no corruption.

  • Job 21:32-33

    Yet shall he be brought to the grave, and shall remain in the tomb. The clods of the valley shall be sweet unto him, and every man shall draw after him, as there are innumerable before him.

  • Job 30:30

    My skin is black upon me, and my bones are burned with heat.

  • Job 21:26

    They shall lie down alike in the dust, and the worms shall cover them.

  • Isaiah 14:11

    Thy pomp is brought down to the grave, and the noise of thy viols: the worm is spread under thee, and the worms cover thee.

  • 1 Corinthians 15:42

    So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption:

  • Acts 2:27-31

    Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. Thou hast made known to me the ways of life; thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance. Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day. Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne; …

  • Psalms 49:9

    That he should still live for ever, and not see corruption.

  • 1 Corinthians 15:53-54

    For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.

  • Job 13:28

    And he, as a rotten thing, consumeth, as a garment that is moth eaten.

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

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
said. Heb. cried, or, called. corruption.
21:32,33; Ps 16:10; 49:9; Ac 2:27-31; 13:34-37; 1Co 15:42,53,54
to the worm.
19:26; 24:20; Isa 14:11

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

Context

  • 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.

  • Job 17:15

    And where is now my hope? as for my hope, who shall see it?

Read all of Job 17

Job 17:14 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		A la huesa tengo dicho: Mi padre eres tú; á los gusanos: Mi madre y mi hermana.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Je crie à la fosse: Tu es mon père! aux vers: Ma mère et ma sœur!
German
Elberfelder 1871		Zur Verwesung rufe ich: Du bist mein Vater! zu dem Gewürm: Meine Mutter und meine Schwester!
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		Putredini dixi: Pater meus es; Mater mea, et soror mea, vermibus.