Hide them in the dust together; and bind their faces in secret.
Parallel translations
- WEB Hide them in the dust together. Bind their faces in the hidden place.
- BSB Bury them together in the dust; imprison them in the grave.
- NKJV Hide them in the dust together, Bind their faces in hidden darkness.
- NASB “Hide them together in the dust; Imprison them in the hidden place.
- NLT Bury them in the dust. Imprison them in the world of the dead.
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 challenges Job to bury the proud in the dust and bind them in the grave. Only God holds power over death and final judgment.
Overview
The imagery of hiding the wicked in the dust and binding their faces speaks of consigning them to death and judgment. Job has no such power; he cannot decree the fate of men. God alone is Lord over life and death. The passage humbles Job and magnifies the sole authority of God to judge, an authority entrusted to the risen Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Isa 2:10Enter into the rock, and hide thee in the dust, for fear of the LORD, and for the glory of his majesty.
- Esth 7:8Then the king returned out of the palace garden into the place of the banquet of wine; and Haman was fallen upon the bed whereon Esther was. Then said the king, Will he force the queen also before me in the house? As the word went out of the king’s mouth, they covered Haman’s face.
- Job 14:13O that thou wouldest hide me in the grave, that thou wouldest keep me secret, until thy wrath be past, that thou wouldest appoint me a set time, and remember me!
- Job 36:13But the hypocrites in heart heap up wrath: they cry not when he bindeth them.
- Ps 49:14Like sheep they are laid in the grave; death shall feed on them; and the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning; and their beauty shall consume in the grave from their dwelling.
- John 11:44And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go.
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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 40:13 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.