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He is carried to the grave, and watch is kept over his tomb.
Job 21:32 · Berean Standard Bible
Parallel translations
  • WEB Yet he will be borne to the grave. Men shall keep watch over the tomb.
  • KJV Yet shall he be brought to the grave, and shall remain in the tomb.
  • NKJV Yet he shall be brought to the grave, And a vigil kept over the tomb.
  • NASB “When he is carried to the grave, People will keep watch over his tomb.
  • NLT When they are carried to the grave, an honor guard keeps watch at their tomb.

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

When the wicked man dies he is carried honorably to the grave, and a watch is kept over his tomb. Even his burial is dignified, not disgraced.

Overview

Job notes the irony that the wicked often receive an honored funeral and a well-tended tomb. Far from being shamed, they are celebrated. This further dismantles the friends' insistence that disgrace marks the ungodly's end. It also exposes how worldly honor can crown a life God will yet judge.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 3

  • Luke 16:22One day the beggar died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side. And the rich man also died and was buried.
  • Ezek 32:21–32Mighty chiefs will speak from the midst of Sheol about Egypt and her allies: ‘They have come down and lie with the uncircumcised, with those slain by the sword.’
  • Ps 49:14Like sheep they are destined for Sheol. Death will be their shepherd. The upright will rule them in the morning, and their form will decay in Sheol, far from their lofty abode.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (3)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Job videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Job 21:32YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on JobMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    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 21:32 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.