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all flesh would perish together, and man would turn again to dust.
Job 34:15 · World English Bible
Parallel translations
  • KJV All flesh shall perish together, and man shall turn again unto dust.
  • BSB all flesh would perish together and mankind would return to the dust.
  • NKJV All flesh would perish together, And man would return to dust.
  • NASB Humanity would perish together, And mankind would return to dust.
  • NLT all life would cease, and humanity would turn again to dust.

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

God warns against covenants with the inhabitants, lest Israel be drawn into their idolatrous feasts. Spiritual unfaithfulness is pictured as prostitution.

Overview

The danger is that fellowship with idolaters leads to sharing in their sacrifices and so to 'playing the prostitute' after their gods. The marital imagery underscores that idolatry is covenant betrayal of Israel's divine husband. It warns that compromising associations can erode exclusive devotion to the Lord.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 8

  • Gen 3:19By the sweat of your face will you eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken. For you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
  • Eccl 12:7and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.
  • Isa 57:16For I will not contend forever, neither will I be always angry; for the spirit would faint before me, and the souls whom I have made.
  • Job 30:23For I know that you will bring me to death, To the house appointed for all living.
  • Job 9:22“It is all the same. Therefore I say he destroys the blameless and the wicked.
  • Ps 90:3–10You turn man to destruction, saying, “Return, you children of men.”
  • Isa 27:4Wrath is not in me, but if I should find briers and thorns, I would do battle! I would march on them and I would burn them together.
  • Job 10:9Remember, I beg you, that you have fashioned me as clay. Will you bring me into dust again?

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (4)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Job videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Job 34:15YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on JobMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

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 34:15 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.