They shall lie down alike in the dust, and the worms shall cover them.
Parallel translations
- WEB They lie down alike in the dust. The worm covers them.
- BSB But together they lie down in the dust, and worms cover them both.
- NKJV They lie down alike in the dust, And worms cover them.
- NASB “Together they lie down in the dust, And maggots cover them.
- NLT But both are buried in the same dust, both eaten by the same maggots.
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
Both the prosperous and the miserable end up the same in death, lying in the dust covered by worms. Death levels all earthly distinctions.
Overview
Job concludes his contrast by noting the great equalizer: both kinds of people share the same grave. This echoes Ecclesiastes 9:2-3. Yet Scripture does not leave us there; the resurrection of Christ (1 Cor 15:20-22) breaks death's apparent finality, promising that what is sown in the dust will be raised, and that God's justice extends beyond the grave.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Eccl 9:2All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth not: as is the good, so is the sinner; and he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath.
- Isa 14:11Thy pomp is brought down to the grave, and the noise of thy viols: the worm is spread under thee, and the worms cover thee.
- Job 20:11His bones are full of the sin of his youth, which shall lie down with him in the dust.
- Job 3:18–19There the prisoners rest together; they hear not the voice of the oppressor.
- Ps 49:14Like sheep they are laid in the grave; death shall feed on them; and the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning; and their beauty shall consume in the grave from their dwelling.
- Job 19:26And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God:
- Job 24:20The womb shall forget him; the worm shall feed sweetly on him; he shall be no more remembered; and wickedness shall be broken as a tree.
- 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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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 21:26 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.