So I thought: ‘I will die in my nest and multiply my days as the sand.
Parallel translations
- WEB Then I said, ‘I shall die in my own house, I shall count my days as the sand.
- KJV Then I said, I shall die in my nest, and I shall multiply my days as the sand.
- NKJV “Then I said, ‘I shall die in my nest, And multiply my days as the sand.
- NASB “Then I thought, ‘I will die with my family, And I will multiply my days as the sand.
- NLT “I thought, ‘Surely I will die surrounded by my family after a long, good life.
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
Job had expected to die peacefully at home after a long and full life.
Overview
Reflecting on his former security, Job recalls his confident expectation of many days and a quiet death surrounded by blessing. His prosperity had seemed permanent and divinely secured. This honest account of dashed expectations reflects the uncertainty of all earthly hopes and the need to anchor our confidence in God rather than circumstances (James 4:14).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Ps 30:6–7In prosperity I said, “I will never be shaken.”
- Ps 91:16With long life I will satisfy him and show him My salvation.”
- Gen 32:12But You have said, ‘I will surely make you prosper, and I will make your offspring like the sand of the sea, too numerous to count.’”
- Obad 1:4Though you soar like the eagle and make your nest among the stars, even from there I will bring you down,” declares the LORD.
- Jer 49:16The terror you cause and the pride of your heart have deceived you, O dwellers in the clefts of the rocks, O occupiers of the mountain summit. Though you elevate your nest like the eagle, even from there I will bring you down,” declares the LORD.
- Job 42:16–17After this, Job lived 140 years and saw his children and their children to the fourth generation.
- Job 5:26You will come to the grave in full vigor, like a sheaf of grain gathered in season.
- Hab 2:9Woe to him who builds his house by unjust gain, to place his nest on high and escape the hand of disaster!
- Jer 22:23O inhabitant of Lebanon, nestled in the cedars, how you will groan when pangs of anguish come upon you, agony like a woman in labor.”
- Gen 41:49So Joseph stored up grain in such abundance, like the sand of the sea, that he stopped keeping track of it; for it was beyond measure.
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 29:18 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.