Job 27:18
16 Though he heaps up silver like dust and piles up a wardrobe like clay,
17 what he lays up, the righteous will wear, and his silver will be divided by the innocent.
The house he built is like a moth’s cocoon, like a hut set up by a watchman.
19 He lies down wealthy, but will do so no more; when he opens his eyes, all is gone.
20 Terrors overtake him like a flood; a tempest sweeps him away in the night.
This was said to Israel at a particular time, so it is wise to read it together with the surrounding text. Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.
Compare
- BSB
- The house he built is like a moth’s cocoon, like a hut set up by a watchman.
- KJV
- He buildeth his house as a moth, and as a booth that the keeper maketh.
- WEB
- He builds his house as the moth, as a booth which the watchman makes.
- ASV
- He buildeth his house as the moth, And as a booth which the keeper maketh.
- DARBY
- He buildeth his house as the moth, and as a booth that a keeper maketh.
- BLB
- He builds his house like the moth, and like a booth made [by] a watchman.
- ÅB
- Som møllet har han bygget sitt hus og som den hytte en markvokter lager seg.
- OTB
- Han bygger sitt hus som et edderkoppnett,
Eller et ly laget av en vaktmann. - B1930
- Som møllet har han bygget sitt hus og som den hytte en markvokter lager sig.
Study notes (Tyndale)
Original text and word study
Cross references
Job 8:14–15
His confidence is fragile; his security is in a spider’s web.
Read in contextIsaiah 1:8
And the Daughter of Zion is abandoned like a shelter in a vineyard, like a shack in a cucumber field, like a city besieged.
Read in contextIsaiah 51:8
For the moth will devour them like a garment, and the worm will eat them like wool. But My righteousness will last forever, My salvation through all generations.”
Read in contextIsaiah 38:12
My dwelling has been picked up and removed from me like a shepherd’s tent. I have rolled up my life like a weaver; He cuts me off from the loom; from day until night You make an end of me.
Read in contextLamentations 2:6
He has laid waste His tabernacle like a garden booth; He has destroyed His place of meeting. The LORD has made Zion forget her appointed feasts and Sabbaths. In His fierce anger He has despised both king and priest.
Read in context