Job 27:16

16 If he gathereth together silver as earth, and maketh ready clothes as (the) clay; (Yea, though he gathereth together silver like dust, and getteth himself heaps of clothes;)

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 If his children be multiplied, they shall be killed with (the) sword; and his sons shall not be [ful]filled with bread.
15 They, that be residue of him, shall be buried in perishing; and the widows of him shall not weep. (They, who be left of him, shall die from disease; and their widows shall not weep for them.)
16 If he gathereth together silver as earth, and maketh ready clothes as (the) clay; (Yea, though he gathereth together silver like dust, and getteth himself heaps of clothes;)
17 soothly he made these things ready, but a just man shall be clothed in those things, and an innocent man shall part the silver. (truly he got these things, but the righteous shall be clothed in them, and the innocent shall divide, or shall share, the silver.)
18 As a moth he hath builded his house, and as a keeper he made a shadowing place. (Like a moth, he hath built his house, and he hath made his place of shade like a watchman.)
Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.