Job 4:19

17 ‘Can a mortal be more righteous than God, or a man more pure than his Maker?

18 If God puts no trust in His servants, and He charges His angels with error,

how much more those who dwell in houses of clay, whose foundations are in the dust, who can be crushed like a moth!

20 They are smashed to pieces from dawn to dusk; unnoticed, they perish forever.

21 Are not their tent cords pulled up, so that they die without wisdom?’

Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.

Compare

BSB
how much more those who dwell in houses of clay, whose foundations are in the dust, who can be crushed like a moth!
KJV
How much less in them that dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, which are crushed before the moth?
WEB
How much more those who dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed before the moth!
ASV
How much more them that dwell in houses of clay, Whose foundation is in the dust, Who are crushed before the moth!
DARBY
How much more them that dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed as the moth!
BLB
how much more those dwelling [in] houses of clay, for whom their foundation is in the dust, [who] are crushed before a moth?
ÅB
hvor meget mere da hos dem som bor i hus av leire, og som har sin grunnvoll i støvet - de som knuses lettere enn møll.
OTB
Hvor mye mer dem som bor i leirhus,
hvis grunnvoll er i støvet,
som knuses lettere enn en møll!
B1930
hvor meget mere da hos dem som bor i hus av ler, og som har sin grunnvoll i støvet - de som knuses lettere enn møll.

Study notes (Tyndale)

Original text and word study

Cross references

  • Job 10:9

    Please remember that You molded me like clay. Would You now return me to dust?

    Read in context
  • Genesis 2:7

    Then the LORD God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and the man became a living being.

    Read in context
  • Genesis 3:19

    By the sweat of your brow you will eat your bread, until you return to the ground— because out of it were you taken. For dust you are, and to dust you shall return.”

    Read in context
  • Job 33:6

    I am just like you before God; I was also formed from clay.

    Read in context
  • Psalms 39:11

    You discipline and correct a man for his iniquity, consuming like a moth what he holds dear; surely each man is but a vapor. Selah

    Read in context
  • 2 Corinthians 4:7

    Now we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this surpassingly great power is from God and not from us.

    Read in context
  • Genesis 18:27

    Then Abraham answered, “Now that I have ventured to speak to the Lord—though I am but dust and ashes—

    Read in context
  • 2 Corinthians 5:1

    Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is dismantled, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.

    Read in context