Job 27:16

16 Sinners might store up silver like dust and clothes like piles of clay.

Job 27:16 Meaning and Commentary

Job 27:16

Though he heap up silver as the dust
Which, as it denotes the great abundance of it collected together, so it expresses the bias and disposition of such a man's mind, that he cannot be content without amassing great quantities of it, and also his diligence and success therein, see ( 1 Kings 10:27 ) ( Psalms 39:6 ) ( Habakkuk 2:6 ) ;

and prepare raiment as the clay;
not merely, for use, but pomp and show, to fill his wardrobes with; and formerly, raiment was part of the treasure of great men: the phrase signifies that he might have such a variety of raiment, and such large quantities of it, that he would value it no more than so much clay; or else that his riches, consist of what it would, would be both polluting and troublesome to him; the Septuagint version reads "gold" instead of "raiment", as in ( Zechariah 9:3 ) , where like expressions are used of Tyre.

Job 27:16 In-Context

14 All of their children will be killed with swords. They'll never have enough to eat.

15 A plague will kill those who are left alive. The widows of sinful men won't even sob over their own children.

16 Sinners might store up silver like dust and clothes like piles of clay.

17 But people who do what is right will wear those clothes. People who haven't done anything wrong will divide up that silver.

18 The house an evil person builds is like a moth's cocoon. It's like a hut that's made by someone on guard duty.