As drought and heat consume the melting snow, so Sheol steals those who have sinned.
Parallel translations
- WEB Drought and heat consume the snow waters, so does Sheol those who have sinned.
- KJV Drought and heat consume the snow waters: so doth the grave those which have sinned.
- NKJV As drought and heat consume the snow waters, So the grave consumes those who have sinned.
- NASB “Dryness and heat snatch away the snow waters, As Sheol snatches those who have sinned.
- NLT The grave consumes sinners just as drought and heat consume snow.
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
As heat melts snow, so the grave swallows those who have sinned. It matters because death inevitably consumes the wicked.
Overview
Job compares the way drought and heat absorb snow waters to how Sheol takes away sinners. The image conveys the certainty and silent inevitability of death for the wicked. Yet for those in Christ, the grave's power is broken by His resurrection, which swallows up death in victory (1 Cor. 15:54).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- 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.
- Prov 14:32The wicked man is thrown down by his own sin, but the righteous man has a refuge even in death.
- 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.
- Job 21:13They spend their days in prosperity and go down to Sheol in peace.
- Luke 12:20But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be required of you. Then who will own what you have accumulated?’
- Eccl 9:4–6There is hope, however, for anyone who is among the living; for even a live dog is better than a dead lion.
- Ps 68:2As smoke is blown away, You will drive them out; as wax melts before the fire, the wicked will perish in the presence of God.
- Job 21:23One man dies full of vigor, completely secure and at ease.
- Job 6:15–17But my brothers are as faithless as wadis, as seasonal streams that overflow,
- Job 21:32–34He is carried to the grave, and watch is kept over his tomb.
- Ps 58:8–9Like a slug that dissolves in its slime, like a woman’s stillborn child, may they never see the sun.
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 24:19 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.