As the cloud is consumed and vanisheth away: so he that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more.
Parallel translations
- WEB As the cloud is consumed and vanishes away, so he who goes down to Sheol shall come up no more.
- BSB As a cloud vanishes and is gone, so he who goes down to Sheol does not come back up.
- NKJV As the cloud disappears and vanishes away, So he who goes down to the grave does not come up.
- NASB “When a cloud vanishes, it is gone; In the same way one who goes down to Sheol does not come up.
- NLT Just as a cloud dissipates and vanishes, those who die will not come back.
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
As a cloud dissolves and disappears, Job says, so the one who goes down to the grave does not return. He laments death's apparent irreversibility.
Overview
Using the image of a vanishing cloud, Job voices the Old Testament's sober view of Sheol, the realm of the dead, from which there is no ordinary return to earthly life. Job speaks from limited revelation and deep grief. The fuller hope of resurrection awaits its clearest light in Christ, who conquered the grave (1 Corinthians 15:20-22).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Job 30:15Terrors are turned upon me: they pursue my soul as the wind: and my welfare passeth away as a cloud.
- 2 Sam 14:14For we must needs die, and are as water spilt on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again; neither doth God respect any person: yet doth he devise means, that his banished be not expelled from him.
- Job 10:21Before I go whence I shall not return, even to the land of darkness and the shadow of death;
- 2 Sam 12:23But now he is dead, wherefore should I fast? can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me.
- Job 14:10–14But man dieth, and wasteth away: yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he?
- Ps 39:13O spare me, that I may recover strength, before I go hence, and be no more.
- Job 16:22When a few years are come, then I shall go the way whence I shall not return.
- Isa 38:11I said, I shall not see the LORD, even the LORD, in the land of the living: I shall behold man no more with the inhabitants of the world.
- Job 37:11Also by watering he wearieth the thick cloud: he scattereth his bright cloud:
- Job 11:8It is as high as heaven; what canst thou do? deeper than hell; what canst thou know?
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 7:9 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.