Job 3 · Verse 14

Job 3:14

With kings and counsellors of the earth, which built desolate places for themselves;
Job 3:14, King James Version

Job 3:14 in other translations

BSBwith kings and counselors of the earth, who built for themselves cities now in ruins,
WEBwith kings and counselors of the earth, who built up waste places for themselves;
ASVWith kings and counsellors of the earth, Who built up waste places for themselves;
YLTWith kings and counsellors of earth, These building wastes for themselves.
DARBYWith kings and counsellors of the earth, who build desolate places for themselves,
BBEWith kings and the wise ones of the earth, who put up great houses for themselves;
WebsterWith kings and counselors of the earth, who built desolate places for themselves;

What does Job 3:14 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
14. With kings ... which built desolate places for themselves--who built up for themselves what proved to be (not palaces, but) ruins! The wounded spirit of Job, once a great emir himself, sick of the vain struggles of mortal great men, after grandeur, contemplates the palaces of kings, now desolate heaps of ruins. His regarding the repose of death the most desirable end of the great ones of earth, wearied with heaping up perishable treasures, marks the irony that breaks out from the black clouds of melancholy [Umbreit]. The "for themselves" marks their selfishness. Michaelis explains it weakly of mausoleums, such as are found still, of stupendous proportions, in the ruins of Petra of Idumea.

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

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 14 With kings and counsellors of the earth - I believe this translation to be perfectly correct. The counsellors, יעצי yoatsey, I suppose to mean the privy council, or advisers of kings; those without whose advice kings seldom undertake wars, expeditions, etc. These mighty agitators of the world are at rest in their graves, after the lives of commotion which they have led among men: most of whom indeed have been the troublers of the peace of the globe. Which built desolate places - Who erect mausoleums, funeral monuments, sepulchral pyramids, etc., to keep their names from perishing, while their bodies are turned to corruption. I cannot think, with some learned men, that Job is here referring to those patriotic princes who employed themselves in repairing the ruins and desolations which others had occasioned. His simple idea is, that, had he died from the womb, he would have been equally at rest, neither troubling nor troubled, as those defunct kings and planners of wars and great designs are, who have nothing to keep even their names from perishing, but the monuments which they have raised to contain their corrupting flesh, moldering bones, and dust.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Job 3:11-19

Job complained of those present at his birth, for their tender attention to him. No creature comes into the world so helpless as man. God's power and providence upheld our frail lives, and his pity and patience spared our forfeited lives. Natural affection is put into parents' hearts by God. To desire to die that we may be with Christ, that we may be free from sin, is the effect and evidence of grace; but to desire…

Read the full comment on Job 3:11-19 →

Job 3:14 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.

עִם\־'im-withH5973
מְ֭לָכִיםMe.la.khimkingsH4428
וְיֹ֣עֲצֵיve.Yo.'a.tzeiand counselors ofH3289
אָ֑רֶץ'A.retz[the] earthH776
הַבֹּנִ֖יםha.bo.Nimthe [ones who] rebuiltH1129
חֳרָב֣וֹתcho.ra.VotruinsH2723
לָֽמוֹ\׃la.mofor themselves

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

Cross references for Job 3:14

  • Job 15:28

    And he dwelleth in desolate cities, and in houses which no man inhabiteth, which are ready to become heaps.

  • Psalms 89:48

    What man is he that liveth, and shall not see death? shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave? Selah.

  • Isaiah 14:10-16

    All they shall speak and say unto thee, Art thou also become weak as we? art thou become like unto us? 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. How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: …

  • Psalms 49:14

    Like sheep they are laid in the grave; death shall feed on them; and the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning; and their beauty shall consume in the grave from their dwelling.

  • Psalms 49:6-10

    They that trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches; None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him: (For the redemption of their soul is precious, and it ceaseth for ever:) That he should still live for ever, and not see corruption. …

  • Isaiah 58:12

    And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.

  • Job 30:23

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

  • Job 12:17

    He leadeth counsellors away spoiled, and maketh the judges fools.

  • Ezekiel 27:18-32

    Damascus was thy merchant in the multitude of the wares of thy making, for the multitude of all riches; in the wine of Helbon, and white wool. Dan also and Javan going to and fro occupied in thy fairs: bright iron, cassia, and calamus, were in thy market. Dedan was thy merchant in precious clothes for chariots. Arabia, and all the princes of Kedar, they occupied with thee in lambs, and rams, and goats: in these were they thy merchants. …

  • Ezekiel 26:20

    When I shall bring thee down with them that descend into the pit, with the people of old time, and shall set thee in the low parts of the earth, in places desolate of old, with them that go down to the pit, that thou be not inhabited; and I shall set glory in the land of the living;

  • Isaiah 5:8

    Woe unto them that join house to house, that lay field to field, till there be no place, that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth!

  • 1 Kings 11:43

    And Solomon slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David his father: and Rehoboam his son reigned in his stead.

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

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
kings.
30:23; 1Ki 2:10; 11:43; Ps 49:6-10,14; 89:48; Ec 8:8; Isa 14:10-16
Eze 27:18-32
which built.Who erect splendid mausoleums, funeral monuments, etc. to keep their names from perishing, while their bodies are turned to corruption.
15:28; Isa 5:8; Eze 26:20

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

Context

  • Job 3:13

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

  • Job 3:14

    With kings and counsellors of the earth, which built desolate places for themselves;

  • Job 3:15

    Or with princes that had gold, who filled their houses with silver:

Read all of Job 3

Job 3:14 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Con los reyes y con los consejeros de la tierra, que edifican para sí los desiertos;
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Avec les rois et les conseillers de la terre qui se bâtissent des solitudes,
German
Elberfelder 1871		mit Königen und Räten der Erde, welche sich verödete Plätze erbauten,
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		cum regibus et consulibus terræ, qui ædificant sibi solitudines;