“Then I thought, ‘I will die with my family, And I will 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.
- BSB So I thought: ‘I will die in my nest and multiply my days as the sand.
- NKJV “Then I said, ‘I shall die in my nest, And 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 30:6–7As for me, I said in my prosperity, “I shall never be moved.”
- Ps 91:16I will satisfy him with long life, and show him my salvation.”
- Gen 32:12You said, ‘I will surely do you good, and make your offspring as the sand of the sea, which can’t be counted because there are so many.’”
- Obad 1:4Though you mount on high as the eagle, and though your nest is set among the stars, I will bring you down from there,” says Yahweh.
- Jer 49:16As for your terror, the pride of your heart has deceived you, O you who dwell in the clefts of the rock, who hold the height of the hill, though you should make your nest as high as the eagle, I will bring you down from there,” says Yahweh.
- Job 42:16–17After this Job lived one hundred forty years, and saw his sons, and his sons’ sons, to four generations.
- Job 5:26You shall come to your grave in a full age, like a shock of grain comes in its season.
- Hab 2:9Woe to him who gets an evil gain for his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the hand of evil!
- Jer 22:23Inhabitant of Lebanon, who makes your nest in the cedars, how greatly to be pitied you will be when pangs come on you, the pain as of a woman in travail!
- Gen 41:49Joseph laid up grain as the sand of the sea, very much, until he stopped counting, for it was without number.
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.