For it is a fire that burns down to Abaddon; it would root out my entire harvest.
Parallel translations
- WEB For it is a fire that consumes to destruction, and would root out all my increase.
- KJV For it is a fire that consumeth to destruction, and would root out all mine increase.
- NKJV For that would be a fire that consumes to destruction, And would root out all my increase.
- NASB “For it would be fire that consumes to Abaddon, And would uproot all my increase.
- NLT It is a fire that burns all the way to hell. It would wipe out everything I own.
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 describes adultery as a destructive fire that consumes to ruin and would root out all his increase. It pictures the devastating consequences of sexual sin.
Overview
Job likens the sin of adultery to a raging fire that burns down to destruction and would uproot everything he has gained. The imagery warns of how sexual sin destroys not only the sinner but his family and prosperity. This sober picture matches the wisdom of Proverbs on the ruin of immorality, and it magnifies the rescue offered in the gospel, where Christ delivers from sin's consuming power.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Prov 6:27Can a man embrace fire and his clothes not be burned?
- Jer 5:7–9“Why should I forgive you? Your children have forsaken Me and sworn by gods that are not gods. I satisfied their needs, yet they committed adultery and assembled at the houses of prostitutes.
- Job 15:30He will not escape from the darkness; the flame will wither his shoots, and the breath of God’s mouth will carry him away.
- Job 26:6Sheol is naked before God, and Abaddon has no covering.
- Heb 13:4Marriage should be honored by all and the marriage bed kept undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers.
- Prov 3:33The curse of the LORD is on the house of the wicked, but He blesses the home of the righteous.
- Mal 3:5“Then I will draw near to you for judgment. And I will be a swift witness against sorcerers and adulterers and perjurers, against oppressors of the widowed and fatherless, and against those who defraud laborers of their wages and deny justice to the foreigner but do not fear Me,” says the LORD of Hosts.
- Job 20:28The possessions of his house will be removed, flowing away on the day of God’s wrath.
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 31:12 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.