Job 27:16

16 The wicked may heap up silver like piles of dirt and have so many clothes they are 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 They may have many children, but the sword will kill them. Their children who are left will never have enough to eat.

15 Then they will die of disease and be buried, and the widows will not even cry for them.

16 The wicked may heap up silver like piles of dirt and have so many clothes they are like piles of clay.

17 But good people will wear what evil people have gathered, and the innocent will divide up their silver.

18 The houses the wicked build are like a spider's web, like a hut that a guard builds.