Remember, I beseech thee, that thou hast made me as the clay; and wilt thou bring me into dust again?
Parallel translations
- WEB Remember, I beg you, that you have fashioned me as clay. Will you bring me into dust again?
- BSB Please remember that You molded me like clay. Would You now return me to dust?
- NKJV Remember, I pray, that You have made me like clay. And will You turn me into dust again?
- NASB ‘Remember that You have made me as clay; Yet would You turn me into dust again?
- NLT Remember that you made me from dust— will you turn me back to dust so soon?
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Job asks God to remember that He made him from clay and pleads against returning him to dust. He grounds his appeal in human frailty.
Overview
Recalling that he was formed like clay, Job begs God not to crush him back into dust. The imagery echoes humanity's creation from the ground and its return to it (Genesis 2:7; 3:19). Job's mortality cry finds its answer in the resurrection hope, where the God who formed us from dust will raise our bodies through Christ (1 Corinthians 15:42-49).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- Gen 2:7And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
- Isa 64:8But now, O LORD, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand.
- Gen 3:19In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.
- Eccl 12:7Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.
- Jer 18:6O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the LORD. Behold, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel.
- Isa 45:9Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it, What makest thou? or thy work, He hath no hands?
- Rom 9:21Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?
- Ps 25:6–7Remember, O LORD, thy tender mercies and thy lovingkindnesses; for they have been ever of old.
- Ps 22:15My strength is dried up like a potsherd; and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws; and thou hast brought me into the dust of death.
- Ps 90:3Thou turnest man to destruction; and sayest, Return, ye children of men.
- Job 7:7O remember that my life is wind: mine eye shall no more see good.
- Ps 89:47Remember how short my time is: wherefore hast thou made all men in vain?
- Ps 25:18Look upon mine affliction and my pain; and forgive all my sins.
- Ps 106:4Remember me, O LORD, with the favour that thou bearest unto thy people: O visit me with thy salvation;
- Job 17:14I have said to corruption, Thou art my father: to the worm, Thou art my mother, and my sister.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Commentaries & study tools
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Job's cry for a mediator who can lay his hand on both God and man, and his confidence that 'my Redeemer lives' and will stand on the earth, reaches forward to Jesus the living Redeemer.
How Job 10:9 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.