The clods of the valley shall be sweet unto him, and every man shall draw after him, as there are innumerable before him.
Parallel translations
- WEB The clods of the valley shall be sweet to him. All men shall draw after him, as there were innumerable before him.
- BSB The clods of the valley are sweet to him; everyone follows behind him, and those before him are without number.
- NKJV The clods of the valley shall be sweet to him; Everyone shall follow him, As countless have gone before him.
- NASB “The clods of the valley will gently cover him; Moreover, all mankind will follow after him, While countless others go before him.
- NLT A great funeral procession goes to the cemetery. Many pay their respects as the body is laid to rest, and the earth gives sweet repose.
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
The wicked man rests peacefully in the earth, and great crowds follow his funeral as countless have before. He dies as part of the ordinary human procession, not under visible curse.
Overview
Job pictures the wicked finding the very soil sweet upon him and being followed to the grave by multitudes, an image of an honored, unexceptional death. Everyone shares this common end. Job's point is the absence of the public judgment his friends predict, leaving the resolution of justice to God alone.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Heb 9:27And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:
- Job 24:24They are exalted for a little while, but are gone and brought low; they are taken out of the way as all other, and cut off as the tops of the ears of corn.
- Job 30:23For I know that thou wilt bring me to death, and to the house appointed for all living.
- Job 3:22Which rejoice exceedingly, and are glad, when they can find the grave?
- Job 17:16They shall go down to the bars of the pit, when our rest together is in the dust.
- Eccl 1:4One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever.
- 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 8:8There is no man that hath power over the spirit to retain the spirit; neither hath he power in the day of death: and there is no discharge in that war; neither shall wickedness deliver those that are given to it.
- Eccl 12:7Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.
- Job 3:17–19There the wicked cease from troubling; and there the weary be at rest.
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 21:33 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.