Job 21:33

33 [The] clods of [the] valley are sweet to him; everyone will follow after him, and {before} him {they are innumerable}.

Job 21:33 Meaning and Commentary

Job 21:33

The clods of the valley shall be sweet unto him
Where he lies interred, alluding to places of interment at the bottom of hills, and mountains, and under rocks, in plains and vales, see ( Genesis 35:8 ) ; and by this strong figure is signified, that the dead wicked man, lying in the clods of the valley in his grave, is in great repose, and in the utmost ease and quiet, feels no pains of body, nor has any uneasiness of mind concerning what befalls his posterity after his death, ( Job 14:21 ) ;

and every man shall draw after him, as [there are] innumerable before
him;
which either respects the pomp at his funeral procession, vast numbers being drawn and gathered together to gaze at it, as is common at grand funerals; and particularly, it may describe the multitude that go before the corpse, as well as those that follow after it; but rather as he is before represented as brought to his grave, and laid there, this clause is added, to denote the universality of death, it being common to all; thousands and ten thousands, even a number which no man can number, have gone before him by death into another world, as every man that comes after him must; and so this may prevent an objection to the grandeur of a wicked man, that after all he dies; but then death is no other than what is common to all men, to the vast multitudes that have gone before, and will be the case of all that come after, to the end of the world.

Job 21:33 In-Context

31 Who denounces his way to his face? And who repays him [for what] he has done?
32 When he is brought to [the] grave, then someone stands guard over [the] tomb.
33 [The] clods of [the] valley are sweet to him; everyone will follow after him, and {before} him {they are innumerable}.
34 So how will you comfort me [with] emptiness, when fraud is left [in] your answers?"

Footnotes 2

  • [a]. Literally "to the faces of"
  • [b]. Literally "there is not number"
Scripture quotations marked (LEB) are from the Lexham English Bible. Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software.