Job 27 · Verse 18

Job 27:18

He buildeth his house as a moth, and as a booth that the keeper maketh.
Job 27:18, King James Version

Job 27:18 in other translations

BSBThe house he built is like a moth’s cocoon, like a hut set up by a watchman.
WEBHe builds his house as the moth, as a booth which the watchman makes.
ASVHe buildeth his house as the moth, And as a booth which the keeper maketh.
YLTHe hath built as a moth his house, And as a booth a watchman hath made.
DARBYHe buildeth his house as the moth, and as a booth that a keeper maketh.
BBEHis house has no more strength than a spider's thread, or a watchman's tent.
WebsterHe buildeth his house as a moth, and as a booth that the keeper maketh.

What does Job 27:18 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Job 27:11-23

11-23. These words are contrary to Job's previous sentiments (see on Job 21:22-33; Job 24:22-25). Job 21:22-33; 24:22-25). They therefore seem to be Job's statement, not so much of his own sentiments, as of what Zophar would have said had he spoken when his turn came (end of the twenty-sixth chapter). So Job stated the friends' opinion (Job 21:17-21; 24:18-21). The objection is, why, if so, does not Job answer…

Read the full comment on Job 27:11-23 →

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 18 He buildeth his house as a moth - With great skill, great pains, and great industry; but the structure, however skillful, shall be dissolved; and the materials, however costly, shall be brought to corruption. To its owner it shall be only a temporary habitation, like that which the moth makes in its larve or caterpillar state, during its change from a chrysalis to a winged insect. As a booth that the keeper maketh - A shed which the watchman or keeper of a vineyard erects to cover him from the scorching sun, while watching the ripening grapes, that they may be preserved from depredation. Travellers in the East have observed that such booths or sheds are made of the lightest and most worthless materials; and after the harvest or vintage is in, they are quite neglected, and by the winter rains, etc., are soon dissolved and destroyed.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Job 27:11-23

Job's friends, on the same subject, spoke of the misery of wicked men before death as proportioned to their crimes; Job considered that if it were not so, still the consequences of their death would be dreadful. Job undertook to set this matter in a true light. Death to a godly man, is like a fair gale of wind to convey him to the heavenly country; but, to a wicked man, it is like a storm, that hurries him away to…

Read the full comment on Job 27:11-23 →

Job 27:18 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.

בָּנָ֣הba.Nahhe has builtH1129
כָעָ֣שׁkha.'Ashlike <the> mothH6211
בֵּית֑וֹbei.Tohouse hisH1004
וּ֝כְסֻכָּ֗הu.khe.su.Kahand like a shelterH5521
עָשָׂ֥ה'a.Sah[which] he has madeH6213
נֹצֵֽר\׃no.Tzera watchmanH5341

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

Cross references for Job 27:18

  • Job 8:14-15

    Whose hope shall be cut off, and whose trust shall be a spider’s web. He shall lean upon his house, but it shall not stand: he shall hold it fast, but it shall not endure.

  • Isaiah 1:8

    And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city.

  • Isaiah 51:8

    For the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool: but my righteousness shall be for ever, and my salvation from generation to generation.

  • Isaiah 38:12

    Mine age is departed, and is removed from me as a shepherd’s tent: I have cut off like a weaver my life: he will cut me off with pining sickness: from day even to night wilt thou make an end of me.

  • Lamentations 2:6

    And he hath violently taken away his tabernacle, as if it were of a garden: he hath destroyed his places of the assembly: the Lord hath caused the solemn feasts and sabbaths to be forgotten in Zion, and hath despised in the indignation of his anger the king and the priest.

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

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
as a moth.
8:14,15; Isa 51:8
as a booth.
Isa 1:8; 38:12; La 2:6

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

Context

  • Job 27:17

    He may prepare it, but the just shall put it on, and the innocent shall divide the silver.

  • Job 27:18

    He buildeth his house as a moth, and as a booth that the keeper maketh.

  • Job 27:19

    The rich man shall lie down, but he shall not be gathered: he openeth his eyes, and he is not.

Read all of Job 27

Job 27:18 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Edificó su casa como la polilla, y cual cabaña que el guarda hizo.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Il a bâti sa maison comme la teigne, comme une cabane que fait celui qui garde les vignes.
German
Elberfelder 1871		Er hat sein Haus gebaut wie die Motte, und der Hütte gleich, die ein Wächter sich macht.
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		Ædificavit sicut tinea domum suam, et sicut custos fecit umbraculum.