Job 17:16

Modern

Will it go down to the gates of Sheol? Will we go down together into the dust?”

Traditional

They shall go down to the bars of the pit, when our rest together is in the dust.

Literal

Will it go down into the hands of Sheol, if we may rest together upon the dust?”

Latin

In profundissimum infernum descendent omnia mea: putasne saltem ibi erit requies mihi?

Hebrew

English

Will it go down to the gates of Sheol? Will we go down together into the dust?”

the gates of Sheol: Sheol is the place where dead people reside. Ancient people thought it had a gate with bars that allowed no escape.

Job no longer trusted his friends and thought he would die without hope (6:15–21; 13:4–5; 16:2–3; compare 12:2).

Theme notes and profiles

Job 3:17–19
There the wicked cease from raging, and there the weary find rest.
Jonah 2:6
To the roots of the mountains I descended; the earth beneath me barred me in forever! But You raised my life from the pit, O LORD my God!
Ezekiel 37:11
Then He said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Look, they are saying, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope has perished; we are cut off.’
Psalm 88:4–8
I am counted among those descending to the Pit. I am like a man without strength.
Job 33:18–28
…to preserve his soul from the Pit and his life from perishing by the sword.
Job 18:13–14
It devours patches of his skin; the firstborn of death devours his limbs.
Isaiah 38:17–18
Surely for my own welfare I had such great anguish; but Your love has delivered me from the pit of oblivion, for You have cast all my sins behind Your back.
Psalm 143:7
Answer me quickly, O LORD; my spirit fails. Do not hide Your face from me, or I will be like those who descend to the Pit.
2 Corinthians 1:9
Indeed, we felt we were under the sentence of death, in order that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God, who raises the dead.