“When he is carried to the grave, People will keep watch over his tomb.
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.
- BSB He is carried to the grave, and watch is kept over his tomb.
- NKJV Yet he shall be brought to the grave, And a vigil kept over the 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 16:22The beggar died, and he was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died, and was buried.
- Ezek 32:21–32The strong among the mighty shall speak to him out of the middle of Sheol with those who help him: they are gone down, they lie still, even the uncircumcised, slain by the sword.
- Ps 49:14They are appointed as a flock for Sheol. Death shall be their shepherd. The upright shall have dominion over them in the morning. Their beauty shall decay in Sheol, far from their mansion.
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 21:32 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
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