Psalms 58:8(v16)Let them be like a snail which melts and passes away, like the stillborn child, who has not seen the sun.
Revelation 14:13(v17)I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write, ‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.’ ” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “that they…
Job 15:28(v14)He has lived in desolate cities, in houses which no one inhabited, which were ready to become heaps.
Job 17:16(v17)Shall it go down with me to the gates of Sheol, or descend together into the dust?”
Ecclesiastes 6:3(v16)If a man fathers a hundred children, and lives many years, so that the days of his years are many, but his soul is not filled with good,…
Show all 46 cross-references
1 Kings 10:27(v15)The king made silver as common as stones in Jerusalem, and cedars as common as the sycamore trees that are in the lowland.
Job 14:10-12(v13)But man dies, and is laid low. Yes, man gives up the spirit, and where is he? As the waters fail from the sea, and the river wastes and…
Job 14:13(v17)“Oh that you would hide me in Sheol, that you would keep me secret until your wrath is past, that you would appoint me a set time and…
Job 21:13(v13)They spend their days in prosperity. In an instant they go down to Sheol.
Job 22:25(v15)The Almighty will be your treasure, and precious silver to you.
Psalms 49:14(v14)They are appointed as a flock for Sheol. Death shall be their shepherd. The upright shall have dominion over them in the morning. Their…
Psalms 89:48(v14)What man is he who shall live and not see death, who shall deliver his soul from the power of Sheol?
Ecclesiastes 9:10(v13)Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work, nor plan, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in Sheol, where you are…
Isaiah 14:10-16(v14)They all will answer and ask you, “Have you also become as weak as we are? Have you become like us?” Your pomp is brought down to Sheol,…
Isaiah 57:1-2(v17)The righteous perish, and no one lays it to heart. Merciful men are taken away, and no one considers that the righteous is taken away from…
Zephaniah 1:18(v15)Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to deliver them in the day of Yahweh’s wrath, but the whole land will be devoured by the…
1 Corinthians 15:8(v16)and last of all, as to the child born at the wrong time, he appeared to me also.
Hebrews 4:9(v17)There remains therefore a Sabbath rest for the people of God.
Hebrews 4:11(v17)Let’s therefore give diligence to enter into that rest, lest anyone fall after the same example of disobedience.
Numbers 22:18(v15)Balaam answered the servants of Balak, “If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I can’t go beyond the word of Yahweh my…
1 Kings 11:43(v14)Solomon slept with his fathers, and was buried in his father David’s city; and Rehoboam his son reigned in his place.
Job 7:8-10(v13)The eye of him who sees me will see me no more. Your eyes will be on me, but I will not be. As the cloud is consumed and vanishes away, so…
Job 7:21(v13)Why do you not pardon my disobedience, and take away my iniquity? For now will I lie down in the dust. You will seek me diligently, but I…
Job 10:22(v13)the land dark as midnight, of the shadow of death, without any order, where the light is as midnight.’ ”
Job 12:17(v14)He leads counselors away stripped. He makes judges fools.
Job 12:21(v15)He pours contempt on princes, and loosens the belt of the strong.
Job 17:13(v13)If I look for Sheol as my house, if I have spread my couch in the darkness,
Job 19:27(v13)whom I, even I, will see on my side. My eyes will see, and not as a stranger. “My heart is consumed within me.
Job 21:23(v13)One dies in his full strength, being wholly at ease and quiet.
Job 27:16-17(v15)Though he heap up silver as the dust, and prepare clothing as the clay; he may prepare it, but the just will put it on, and the innocent…
Job 30:23(v14)For I know that you will bring me to death, To the house appointed for all living.
Psalms 49:6-10(v14)Those who trust in their wealth, and boast in the multitude of their riches— none of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give God…
Psalms 55:5-8(v17)Fearfulness and trembling have come on me. Horror has overwhelmed me. I said, “Oh that I had wings like a dove! Then I would fly away, and…
Ecclesiastes 6:3-5(v13)If a man fathers a hundred children, and lives many years, so that the days of his years are many, but his soul is not filled with good,…
Ecclesiastes 8:8(v14)There is no man who has power over the spirit to contain the spirit; neither does he have power over the day of death. There is no…
Isaiah 2:7(v15)Their land is full of silver and gold, neither is there any end of their treasures. Their land also is full of horses, neither is there any…
Isaiah 5:8(v14)Woe to those who join house to house, who lay field to field, until there is no room, and you are made to dwell alone in the middle of the…
Isaiah 58:12(v14)Those who will be of you will build the old waste places. You will raise up the foundations of many generations. You will be called…
Ezekiel 26:20(v14)then I will bring you down with those who descend into the pit, to the people of old time, and will make you dwell in the lower parts of…
Ezekiel 27:18-32(v14)“ ‘ “Damascus was your merchant for the multitude of your handiworks, by reason of the multitude of all kinds of riches, with the wine of…
Zechariah 9:3(v15)Tyre built herself a stronghold, and heaped up silver like the dust, and fine gold like the mire of the streets.
Matthew 10:28(v17)Don’t be afraid of those who kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul. Rather, fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body…
Luke 12:4(v17)“I tell you, my friends, don’t be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do.
2 Thessalonians 1:6-7(v17)Since it is a righteous thing with God to repay affliction to those who afflict you, and to give relief to you who are afflicted with us,…
1 Kings 2:10(v14)David slept with his fathers, and was buried in David’s city.
2 Peter 2:8(v17)(for that righteous man dwelling among them was tormented in his righteous soul from day to day with seeing and hearing lawless deeds):
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (17 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Geneva Bible translators1599 · Public DomainOn vv13, 14, 17The vehemency of his afflictions made him to utter…
The vehemency of his afflictions made him to utter these words, as though death were the end of all miseries, and as if there were no life after this, which he speaketh not as though it were so, but the infirmities of his flesh caused him to burst out in this error of the wicked.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp1656 · Public DomainOn vv13–17Job 3:13 For now should I have lain still…
Job 3:13 For now should I have lain still and been quiet, I should have slept: then had I been at rest,
Ver. 13. For now should I have lain still and been quiet] Why, but is it not better to be preserved in salt than to putrefy in sugar? to be emptied from vessel to vessel, than to be at ease, and so to settle on the lees? Jer 48:11; to be tumbled up and down, as fishes are in the streams of Jordan, than to perish in the Dead Sea? It is not always (if at all) a happiness to lie still and be quiet. Life consists in action; and in all these things is the life of my spirit, saith good Hezekiah, who had been in death’s hands (where Job so much desired to be), and could therefore make a better judgment, Isa 38:16. What haste, then, was there of his lying still, and being quiet; say that he were assured of his salvation (for else death had been but a trap door to eternal torments), was there nothing more to be done, but taking present possession? nothing to be suffered with Christ, or ere we come to be glorified with him? Rom 8:17. Ought not he himself first to have suffered and then to have entered into his glory? Luk 24:26. And ought not we to be conformed to his image (in sufferings also) that he might be the firstborn among many brethren? Rom 8:29. Let us run with patience (running is active, and patience passive) the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, &c., and looking off our present troubles (as the word αφορωντες, Heb 1:12, importeth), which while Job beheld too wishtly, and was more sensible of than was meet, he brake out in this sort, and showed himself too much a man. Let us do up our work, and then God will send us to bed all in good time, Isa 57:1-21 : 2Ki 16:13.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole1685 · Public DomainOn vv13, 14, 16, 17Quiet; free from all those torments of my body…
Quiet; free from all those torments of my body and mind which now oppress me.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill1763 · Public DomainOn vv13–17For now should I have lain still, and been…
For now should I have lain still, and been quiet,.... Signifying, that if the above had been his case, if he had died as soon as born, or quickly after, then he would have been laid in the grave, where he would have lain as still as on a bed; for such is the grave to dead bodies as a bed is to those that lie down and sleep upon it; a place of ease and quiet, where there is freedom from all care and thought, from all trouble, anxiety, and distress; nay, more so than on a bed, where there is often tossing to and fro, and great disquietude, but none to the body in the grave, that is still and silent, where there is no uneasiness nor disturbance, see Job 17:13,
I should have slept; soundly and quietly, which persons do not always upon their beds; sometimes they cannot sleep at all, and when they do, they are frequently distressed with uneasy thoughts, frightful dreams, and terrifying visions, Job 4:13; but death is a sound sleep until the resurrection morn, which Job had knowledge of, and faith in, and so considered the state of the dead in this light; death is often in Scripture expressed by sleeping, Dan 12:2; which refers not to the soul, which in a separate state is active and vigorous, and always employed; but to the body, which, as in sleep, so in death, is deprived of the senses, and the exercise of them; on which account there is a great likeness between sleep and death, and out of which a man awakes brisk and cheerful, as the saints will at the time of their resurrection, which will be like an awaking out of sleep:
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then had I been at rest; from all toil and labour, from all diseases and pains of body, from all troubles of whatsoever kind, and particularly from those he now laboured under; see Gill on Job 3:17.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley1765 · Public DomainOn vv14, 16, 17Kings - I had then been as happy as…
Kings - I had then been as happy as the proudest monarchs, who after all their great achievements and enjoyments, go down into their graves. Built - Who to shew their wealth and power, or to leave behind them a glorious name, rebuilt ruined cities, or built new cities and palaces, in places where before there was mere solitude and wasteness.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke1810 · Public DomainOn vv13–17Verse 13. For now should I have lain still]…
Verse 13. For now should I have lain still] In that case I had been insensible; quiet - without these overwhelming agitations; slept - unconscious of evil; been at rest - been out of the reach of calamity and sorrow.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson1811 · Public DomainOn vv13, 15, 17Job 3:13-14. For now should I have lain still,…
Job 3:13-14. For now should I have lain still, and been quiet — Free from those torments of body, and that anguish of mind, which now oppress me. With kings and counsellors of the earth — I had then been as happy as the proudest monarchs, who, after all their great achievements, go down into their graves; which built desolate places for themselves — Who distinguished themselves for a while, and to show their great wealth and power, and to leave behind them a glorious name, and perpetuate their memories, with great labour and expense erected pompous and magnificent buildings; and, to render themselves the more famous, raised them up in places which seemed before to be forsaken, and abandoned to entire desolation.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes1834 · Public DomainOn vv13–17For now should I have lain still - In…
For now should I have lain still - In this verse Job uses four expressions to describe the state in which be would have been if he had been so happy as to have died when an infant. It is evidently a very pleasant subject to him, and he puts it in a great variety of form. He uses thc words which express the most quiet repose, a state of perfect rest, a gentle slumber; and then in the next verses he says, that instead of being in the miserable condition in which he then was, he would have been in the same state with kings and the most illustrious men of the earth.
I should have lain still - - שׁכב shâkab. I should have been “lying down,” as one does who is taking grateful repose. This is a word of less strength than any of those which follow.
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And been quiet - - שׁקט shâqaṭ. A word of stronger signification than that before used. It means to rest, to lie down, to have quiet. It is used of one who is never troubled, harassed, or infested by others, Jdg 3:11; Jdg 5:31; Jdg 8:25; and of one who has no fear or dread, Psa 76:9. The meaning is, that he would not only have lain down, but; would have been perfectly tranquil. Nothing would have harassed him, nothing would have given him any annoyance.
I should have slept - - ישׁן yâshên. This expression also is in advance of those before used. There would not only have been “quiet,” but there would have been a calm and gentle slumber. Sleep is often representcd as “the kinsman of death.” Thus, Virgil speaks of it:
“Tum consanguineus Leti sopor - “
Aeneid vi. 278.
So Homer:
Enth' hupnō cumblēto chasignēto thanatoio -
Iliad, 14:231.
This comparsion is an obvious one, and is frequently used in the Classical writers. It is employed to denote the calmness, stillness, and quiet of death. In the Scriptures it frequently occurs, and with a significancy far more beautiful. It is there employed not only to denote the tranquility of death, but also to denote the Christian hopes of a resurrection and the prospect of being awakened out of the long sleep. We lie down to rest at night with the hopes of awaking again. We sleep calmly, with the expectation that it will be only a temporary repose, and that we shall be aroused, invigorated for augmented toil, and refreshed for sweeter pleasure. So the Christian lies down in the grave. So the infant is committed to the calm slumber of the tomb. It may be a sleep stretching on through many nights and weeks and years and centuries, and even cycles of ages, but it is not eternal. The eyes will be opened again to behold the beauties of creation; the ear will be unstoppod to hear the sweet voice of fricndship and the harmony of music; and the frame will be raised up beautiful and immortal to engage in the service of the God that made us; compare Psa 13:3; Psa 90:5; Joh 11:11; 1Co 15:51; 1Th 4:14; 1Th 5:10. Whether Job used the word in this sense and with this understanding, has been made a matter of question, and will be considered more fully in the examination of the passage in Job 19:25-27.
Then had I been at rest - Instead of the troubles and anxieties which I now experience. That is, he would have been lying in calm and honorable repose with the kings and princes of the earth.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary1859 · Public DomainOn vv13–17Sleep. So death is often styled. Olli dura quies…
CHAPTER III.
Sleep. So death is often styled. Olli dura quies oculos et ferreus urget
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Somnus: in æternam clauduntur lumina noctem. (Virgil, Æneid x.)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown1871 · Public DomainOn vv13–17lain . . . quiet . . . slept--a…
lain . . . quiet . . . slept--a gradation. I should not only have lain, but been quiet, and not only been quiet, but slept. Death in Scripture is called "sleep" (Psa 13:3); especially in the New Testament, where the resurrection-awakening is more clearly set forth (Co1 15:51; Th1 4:14; Th1 5:10).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon1874 · Public DomainOn vv13–1713. Then had I been at rest — The…
13. Then had I been at rest — The gradation is to be remarked — lain still, been quiet, have slept, been at rest. The idea of “rest” in our text, is not one of unconsciousness. The expressions are such as we ourselves continue to use in anticipation of the quiet of the grave. The inscriptions in the Catacombs are in harmony with this passage, (Job_3:13-20,) which we may not improperly regard as a strain from nature’s oratorio of the grave. “In those inscriptions the Christian is always at peace — in pace. This phrase occurs either at the beginning or at the end of most of them as a necessary formula.” — NORTHCOTE, Catac., p. 162. The idea of immortality was most vivid in the heart of the infant Church, “yet the Christian, not content with calling his burial ground a sleeping place, (cemetery,) pushes the notion of slumber to its fullest extent.” — MAITLAND, Catac., page 42.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges1878 · Public DomainOn vv13–1713. The words receive their pathos from the contrast…
13. The words receive their pathos from the contrast of his present anguish, Job_3:26.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers1878 · Public DomainOn vv14, 16, 17(14) Desolate places—i.e., gorgeous tombs and splendid sepulchres, which,…
(14) Desolate places—i.e., gorgeous tombs and splendid sepulchres, which, being tenanted only by the dead, are desolate; or it may mean that the places so built of old are now ruined and desolate. In the former sense it is possible that the Pyramids may here be hinted at.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary1880 · Public DomainOn vv13–17For now should I have lain still and been…
For now should I have lain still and been quiet. "In that case, I should now (hT) have been lying still and resting myself," instead of tossing about, and being full of restlessness and suffering." I should have slept. The life in the intermediate state is called "sleep," even in the New Testament. (Mat_9:24 Joh_11:11 Act_7:60 1Co_15:18, 1Co_15:51, etc.) Job, perhaps, imagined it to be, actually, a sound, dreamless slumber. Then should I have been at rest; literally, then (za) would there have been rest for me.
Vers. 13-19. The grave.
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I A REGION OF IMPENETRABLE DARKNESS.
II A REALM OF UNBROKEN SILENCE.
III AN ABODE OF DEEP TRANQUILLITY.
IV A BED OF PEACEFUL SLUMBER.
V A WORLD OF ABSOLUTE EQUALITY.
VI A PLACE OF UNIVERSAL RENDEZVOUS.
VII A HOUSE OF TEMPORARY LODGING. LESSONS.
1. Humility.
2. Contentment.
3. Diligence.
4. Watchfulness.
Vers. 13-19. The grave a rest.
In the toil and sorrow of life men long for rest. They lighten the toils and brighten the darkness of the present by the hope of repose and gladness in the future. Without such a hope life"s burdens would be much heavier than they are; and in some cases almost insupportable. As the worn labourer longs for the rest of the even-tide, so does the over-wrought spirit of the sad desire the rest of the grave. It is proper to consider if this is a healthy, a just, a well-grounded desire. To the grave men of widely different characters look for rest. Let us think of the grave
I AS LONGED FOR BY THE WEARY. "Then had I been at rest." This is not always to be commended. The present is our time for toil. These are the hours of the day. They that sleep should sleep in the night. It is not a Christian spirit to wish life shorter. Rather should we ask for grace to be faithful, even unto death. Resignation, obedience, hope, will check the desire to diminish the term of life. What is suicide but the adding violence to this desire? For our change we must wait.
II AS THE ONLY REST KNOWN TO THE IGNORANT. By Christian teaching and discipline we learn where the spirit may find rest; and we are encouraged to wait for the end of our toil. But the ignorant know nothing of this good hope.
III THE GRAVE BRINGS NO REST TO THE UNFAITHFUL. He owns rest who does a day"s work. To him that rest is sleep. To the idler death will bring no rest. It will change the conditions and surroundings of life. But it is a dire delusion to suppose that the spirit, in putting off the garment of the flesh, will escape from all toil. Its burdens are within itself, not in the fleshy tent. All sensation is in the mind during the bodily life, and all the sad weariness of the spirit, springing from consciousness of disobedience, that spirit carries with it. The sting of punishment for the wicked pierces the spirit; often through the flesh, it is true. But the sting is not left in the flesh, to be cast off when the body is laid down. The weapons of the spiritual foe penetrate beyond the clothes. The wicked deluded in life is deluded by death. Some long so eagerly for death that they rush through the thin veil that separates them from the regions of the dead. But it is rushing from darkness to light. It is rushing into the presence of the All-seeing One whose apprehended judgment upon life is the severest of all punishments.
IV THE REST OF THE GRAVE IS A TRUE REWARD TO THE FAITHFUL. Fidelity in toil has its reward in rest. To the faithful ones it is sweet. But not as a mere cessation of activity.
1. It ends for them the time of exposure to temptation.
2. It marks the limits of probation.
3. It exchanges warfare for triumph; hard toil for honourable repose; danger for safety; the cross for the crown.
4. It brings the perfectness of all blessing in the everlasting life and the fulness of joy which are promised to the obedient and the pure. R.G.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator1887 · Public DomainOn v17There the wicked cease from troubling.
Job_3:17
There the wicked cease from troubling.
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Wicked men trouble the world
True rest and wickedness never meet; rest and the wicked meet but seldom. And it is but half a rest, and it is rest but to half a wicked man, to his bones in the grave; and it is rest to that half but for a little time, only till the resurrection. The word here used, and in divers other places, signifieth wickedness in the height, and men most active in wickedness. So that when Job saith, There the wicked are at rest, he means those who had been restless in sin, who could not sleep till they had done mischief, nor scarce sleep for doing mischief; he means those who had outrun others in the sinful activity (Act_26:11).
1. Wicked men are troublers both of themselves and others. There the wicked cease from troubling; as if the wicked did nothing in the world, but trouble the world. Wicked ones are the troublers of all; they are troublers of their own families, troublers of the places and cities where they live, the troublers of a whole kingdom, troublers of the Churches of Christ, and the troublers of their own souls.
2. Wicked men, by troubling others, do as much weary and tire out themselves.
3. Wicked men will never cease troubling until they cease to live. In the grave they cease troubling, there they are at rest. If they should live an eternity in this world, they would trouble the world to eternity. As a godly man never gives over doing good, he will do good as long as he lives, though he fetches many a weary step; so wicked men never give over doing evil, until they step into the grave. And the reason of it is, because it is their nature to do evil. The wicked will sin while they have any light to sin by; therefore God puts out their candle, and sends them down into darkness, and there they will be quiet. The wicked shall be silent in darkness. (J. Caryl.)
And the weary are at rest.--
The rest of the grave
In the grave--where kings and princes and infants lie. This verse is often applied to heaven, and the language is such as will express the condition of that blessed world. But, as used by Job, it had no such reference. It relates only to the grave. It is language which beautifully expresses the condition of the dead, and the desirableness even of an abode in the tomb. They who are there are free from the vexations and annoyances to which men are exposed in this life; the wicked cannot torture their limbs by the fires of persecution, or wound their feelings by slander, or oppress and harass them in regard to their property, or distress them by thwarting their plans, or injure them by impugning their motives. All is peaceful and calm in the grave, and there is a place where the malicious designs of wicked men cannot reach us. The object of this verse and the two following is to show the reasons why it was desirable to be in the grave, rather than to live and to suffer the ills of this life. We are not to suppose that Job referred exclusively to his own case in all this. He is describing, in general, the happy condition of the dead, and we have no reason to think that he had been particularly annoyed by wicked men. But the pious often are; and hence it should be a matter of gratitude that there is one place, at least, where the wicked cannot annoy the good, and where the persecuted, the oppressed, and the slandered, may lie down in peace. For there the weary be at rest, the margin has wearied in strength. And the margin is according to the Hebrew. The meaning is, those whose strength is exhausted, who are worn down with the toils and cares of life, and who feel the need of rest. Never was more beautiful language employed than occurs in this verse. What a charm such language throws even over the grave--like strewing flowers and planting roses around the tomb! Who should fear to die, if prepared, when such is to be the condition of the dead? Who is there that is not in some way troubled by the wicked--by their thoughtless, godless life by persecution, contempt, and slander? (comp. 2Pe_2:8; Psa_39:1) Who is there that is not at some time weary with his load of care, anxiety, and trouble? Who is there whose strength does not become exhausted, and to whom rest is not grateful and refreshing? And who is there, therefore, to whom, if prepared for heaven, the grave would not be a place of calm and grateful rest? And though true religion will not prompt us to wish that we had lain down there in early childhood, as Job wished, yet no dictate of piety is violated when we look forward with calm delight to the time when we may repose where the wicked cease from troubling, and where the weary are at rest. O grave, thou art a peaceful spot! Thy rest is calm; thy slumbers are sweet. (Albert Barnes.)
Desire to depart
Thorns in our nest make us take to our wings; the embittering of this cup makes us earnestly desire to drink of the new wine of the kingdom. We are very much like our poor, who would stay at home in England, and put up with their lot, hard though it be; but when at last there comes a worse distress than usual, then straightway they talk of emigrating to those fair and boundless fields across the Atlantic, where a kindred nation will welcome them with joy, So here we are in our poverty, and we make the best of it we can; but a sharp distress wounds our spirit, and then we say we will away to Canaan, to the land that floweth with milk and honey, for there we shall suffer no distress, neither shall our spirits hunger any more. (J. Trapp.)
Departed trouble, and welcome rest
There the winked cease from troubling; and there the weary be at rest. The day was, when it was thought fit that the Christians last resting place should be surrounded by gloomy and repulsive associations. It is not of peaceful rest that the burying place of the Middle Ages would remind you. We all remember the locked up, deserted, neglected churchyard, all grown over with great weeds and nettles, and not like Gods acre at all. How much more appropriate are the quiet, beautiful, open, carefully tended cemeteries of today! It is not merely better judgment but sounder faith that is here. It is a thoroughly Christian thing, to scatter the beauties of nature around the Christian grave. In the text I see something that is like turning the ghastly, neglected, nettle-grown churchyard which we may remember in childhood, into the quiet, sweet, thoughtful sleeping place which we find so common now. The text speaks to us over nearly four thousand years. Job lived in days when the light of truth was dim; Jesus had not yet brought life and immortality to light; so it is possible that we are able to understand Jobs words more fully and better than he understood them himself. The text may be read first of the grave; but in its best meaning it speaks of a better world, to which the grave is the portal.
I. These words as spoken of the grave, the house appointed for all living. We need not justify the impatient burst in which Job wished, as many others have wished since, that he had never been born. Job speaks of the rest to which he would gladly have gone. He would have slumbered with the wise, the great, and the good: how he would have lain still and been quiet, where trouble could never come, in the peaceful grave. There the wicked cease from troubling. There is one place into which the suffering can escape, where their persecutors have no power. There is nothing more striking about the state of those who have gone into the unseen world than the completeness of their escape from all worldly enemies, however malignant and however powerful. But there is something beyond the mere escape from worldly evil. Now the busy heart is quiet at last, and the weary head lies still. What a multitude there is of these weary ones. But there is a certain delusion in thinking of the grave as a place of quiet rest. The soul lives still, and is awake and conscious, though the body sleeps; and it is our souls that are ourselves. We have no warrant for believing that in the other world there will be any season of unconsciousness to the soul.
II. Take the words in their higher and truer meaning. They speak of a better world, whose two great characteristics are safety and peace.
1. There is safety and the sense of safety. Everything wicked--evil spirits, evil thoughts, evil influences cease from troubling. Everything evil, whether within us or around us, shall be done with. If evil were gone, trouble would go too. The great thing about evil and trouble here is not so much the pain and suffering they cause us, as the terrible power they have to do us fearful spiritual harm.
2. Besides the negative assurance, that trouble will be done with in heaven, we have the promise of a positive blessing. There the weary are at rest. The peace and happiness of the better world are summed up in that word. The end of work is to enjoy rest, said one of the wisest of heathen. Doubtless there will be rest from sin, from sorrow, from toil, from anxiety, from temptation, from pain; but all that fails to convey the whole unspeakable truth; it will be the beatific presence of the Saviour that will make the weary soul feel it never knew rest before! In that world the bliss will be restful, calm, satisfied, self-possessed, sublime. The only rest that can ever truly and permanently quiet the human heart is that which the Saviour gives. His peace. And He gives it only to His own. (A. K. H. Boyd.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0On vv13, 15, 17For now I would have been lying down quietly.…
For now I would have been lying down quietly. I would have slept and been at rest
Job uses two sentences to think about what it would be like if he had never been born or had died at birth. (See: Parallelism and Euphemism)
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I would have been lying down quietly
Job imagines something that could have happened in the past but which did not happen, as noted above. AT: "I should have been lying down quietly" (See: Hypothetical Situations)
lying down quietly
"asleep, resting peacefully"
been at rest
Here the word "rest" means to sleep peacefully, but also that Job would not be experiencing the pain that he does. (See: Idiom)
Tyndale Open Study Notes2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0On vv14–153:14 The dead were thought to continue their identities…
3:14 The dead were thought to continue their identities and social status after death. Perhaps Job wanted the world’s kings and prime ministers to acknowledge his own princely status (1:3).
GEBible — Godless Engineer's Bible App
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv13, 14, 17 The vehemency of his afflictions made him to utter…
The vehemency of his afflictions made him to utter these words, as though death were the end of all miseries, and as if there were no life after this, which he speaketh not as though it were so, but the infirmities of his flesh caused him to burst out in this error of the wicked.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv13–17 Job 3:13 For now should I have lain still…
Job 3:13 For now should I have lain still and been quiet, I should have slept: then had I been at rest,
Ver. 13. For now should I have lain still and been quiet] Why, but is it not better to be preserved in salt than to putrefy in sugar? to be emptied from vessel to vessel, than to be at ease, and so to settle on the lees? Jer 48:11; to be tumbled up and down, as fishes are in the streams of Jordan, than to perish in the Dead Sea? It is not always (if at all) a happiness to lie still and be quiet. Life consists in action; and in all these things is the life of my spirit, saith good Hezekiah, who had been in death’s hands (where Job so much desired to be), and could therefore make a better judgment, Isa 38:16. What haste, then, was there of his lying still, and being quiet; say that he were assured of his salvation (for else death had been but a trap door to eternal torments), was there nothing more to be done, but taking present possession? nothing to be suffered with Christ, or ere we come to be glorified with him? Rom 8:17. Ought not he himself first to have suffered and then to have entered into his glory? Luk 24:26. And ought not we to be conformed to his image (in sufferings also) that he might be the firstborn among many brethren? Rom 8:29. Let us run with patience (running is active, and patience passive) the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, &c., and looking off our present troubles (as the word αφορωντες, Heb 1:12, importeth), which while Job beheld too wishtly, and was more sensible of than was meet, he brake out in this sort, and showed himself too much a man. Let us do up our work, and then God will send us to bed all in good time, Isa 57:1-21 : 2Ki 16:13.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv13, 14, 16, 17 Quiet; free from all those torments of my body…
Quiet; free from all those torments of my body and mind which now oppress me.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv13–17 For now should I have lain still, and been…
For now should I have lain still, and been quiet,.... Signifying, that if the above had been his case, if he had died as soon as born, or quickly after, then he would have been laid in the grave, where he would have lain as still as on a bed; for such is the grave to dead bodies as a bed is to those that lie down and sleep upon it; a place of ease and quiet, where there is freedom from all care and thought, from all trouble, anxiety, and distress; nay, more so than on a bed, where there is often tossing to and fro, and great disquietude, but none to the body in the grave, that is still and silent, where there is no uneasiness nor disturbance, see Job 17:13,
I should have slept; soundly and quietly, which persons do not always upon their beds; sometimes they cannot sleep at all, and when they do, they are frequently distressed with uneasy thoughts, frightful dreams, and terrifying visions, Job 4:13; but death is a sound sleep until the resurrection morn, which Job had knowledge of, and faith in, and so considered the state of the dead in this light; death is often in Scripture expressed by sleeping, Dan 12:2; which refers not to the soul, which in a separate state is active and vigorous, and always employed; but to the body, which, as in sleep, so in death, is deprived of the senses, and the exercise of them; on which account there is a great likeness between sleep and death, and out of which a man awakes brisk and cheerful, as the saints will at the time of their resurrection, which will be like an awaking out of sleep:
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then had I been at rest; from all toil and labour, from all diseases and pains of body, from all troubles of whatsoever kind, and particularly from those he now laboured under; see Gill on Job 3:17.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv14, 16, 17 Kings - I had then been as happy as…
Kings - I had then been as happy as the proudest monarchs, who after all their great achievements and enjoyments, go down into their graves. Built - Who to shew their wealth and power, or to leave behind them a glorious name, rebuilt ruined cities, or built new cities and palaces, in places where before there was mere solitude and wasteness.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv13–17 Verse 13. For now should I have lain still]…
Verse 13. For now should I have lain still] In that case I had been insensible; quiet - without these overwhelming agitations; slept - unconscious of evil; been at rest - been out of the reach of calamity and sorrow.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv13, 15, 17 Job 3:13-14. For now should I have lain still,…
Job 3:13-14. For now should I have lain still, and been quiet — Free from those torments of body, and that anguish of mind, which now oppress me. With kings and counsellors of the earth — I had then been as happy as the proudest monarchs, who, after all their great achievements, go down into their graves; which built desolate places for themselves — Who distinguished themselves for a while, and to show their great wealth and power, and to leave behind them a glorious name, and perpetuate their memories, with great labour and expense erected pompous and magnificent buildings; and, to render themselves the more famous, raised them up in places which seemed before to be forsaken, and abandoned to entire desolation.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv13–17 For now should I have lain still - In…
For now should I have lain still - In this verse Job uses four expressions to describe the state in which be would have been if he had been so happy as to have died when an infant. It is evidently a very pleasant subject to him, and he puts it in a great variety of form. He uses thc words which express the most quiet repose, a state of perfect rest, a gentle slumber; and then in the next verses he says, that instead of being in the miserable condition in which he then was, he would have been in the same state with kings and the most illustrious men of the earth.
I should have lain still - - שׁכב shâkab. I should have been “lying down,” as one does who is taking grateful repose. This is a word of less strength than any of those which follow.
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And been quiet - - שׁקט shâqaṭ. A word of stronger signification than that before used. It means to rest, to lie down, to have quiet. It is used of one who is never troubled, harassed, or infested by others, Jdg 3:11; Jdg 5:31; Jdg 8:25; and of one who has no fear or dread, Psa 76:9. The meaning is, that he would not only have lain down, but; would have been perfectly tranquil. Nothing would have harassed him, nothing would have given him any annoyance.
I should have slept - - ישׁן yâshên. This expression also is in advance of those before used. There would not only have been “quiet,” but there would have been a calm and gentle slumber. Sleep is often representcd as “the kinsman of death.” Thus, Virgil speaks of it:
“Tum consanguineus Leti sopor - “
Aeneid vi. 278.
So Homer:
Enth' hupnō cumblēto chasignēto thanatoio -
Iliad, 14:231.
This comparsion is an obvious one, and is frequently used in the Classical writers. It is employed to denote the calmness, stillness, and quiet of death. In the Scriptures it frequently occurs, and with a significancy far more beautiful. It is there employed not only to denote the tranquility of death, but also to denote the Christian hopes of a resurrection and the prospect of being awakened out of the long sleep. We lie down to rest at night with the hopes of awaking again. We sleep calmly, with the expectation that it will be only a temporary repose, and that we shall be aroused, invigorated for augmented toil, and refreshed for sweeter pleasure. So the Christian lies down in the grave. So the infant is committed to the calm slumber of the tomb. It may be a sleep stretching on through many nights and weeks and years and centuries, and even cycles of ages, but it is not eternal. The eyes will be opened again to behold the beauties of creation; the ear will be unstoppod to hear the sweet voice of fricndship and the harmony of music; and the frame will be raised up beautiful and immortal to engage in the service of the God that made us; compare Psa 13:3; Psa 90:5; Joh 11:11; 1Co 15:51; 1Th 4:14; 1Th 5:10. Whether Job used the word in this sense and with this understanding, has been made a matter of question, and will be considered more fully in the examination of the passage in Job 19:25-27.
Then had I been at rest - Instead of the troubles and anxieties which I now experience. That is, he would have been lying in calm and honorable repose with the kings and princes of the earth.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv13–17 Sleep. So death is often styled. Olli dura quies…
CHAPTER III.
Sleep. So death is often styled. Olli dura quies oculos et ferreus urget
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Somnus: in æternam clauduntur lumina noctem. (Virgil, Æneid x.)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv13–17 lain . . . quiet . . . slept--a…
lain . . . quiet . . . slept--a gradation. I should not only have lain, but been quiet, and not only been quiet, but slept. Death in Scripture is called "sleep" (Psa 13:3); especially in the New Testament, where the resurrection-awakening is more clearly set forth (Co1 15:51; Th1 4:14; Th1 5:10).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv13–17 13. Then had I been at rest — The…
13. Then had I been at rest — The gradation is to be remarked — lain still, been quiet, have slept, been at rest. The idea of “rest” in our text, is not one of unconsciousness. The expressions are such as we ourselves continue to use in anticipation of the quiet of the grave. The inscriptions in the Catacombs are in harmony with this passage, (Job_3:13-20,) which we may not improperly regard as a strain from nature’s oratorio of the grave. “In those inscriptions the Christian is always at peace — in pace. This phrase occurs either at the beginning or at the end of most of them as a necessary formula.” — NORTHCOTE, Catac., p. 162. The idea of immortality was most vivid in the heart of the infant Church, “yet the Christian, not content with calling his burial ground a sleeping place, (cemetery,) pushes the notion of slumber to its fullest extent.” — MAITLAND, Catac., page 42.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv13–17 13. The words receive their pathos from the contrast…
13. The words receive their pathos from the contrast of his present anguish, Job_3:26.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv14, 16, 17 (14) Desolate places—i.e., gorgeous tombs and splendid sepulchres, which,…
(14) Desolate places—i.e., gorgeous tombs and splendid sepulchres, which, being tenanted only by the dead, are desolate; or it may mean that the places so built of old are now ruined and desolate. In the former sense it is possible that the Pyramids may here be hinted at.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv13–17 For now should I have lain still and been…
For now should I have lain still and been quiet. "In that case, I should now (hT) have been lying still and resting myself," instead of tossing about, and being full of restlessness and suffering." I should have slept. The life in the intermediate state is called "sleep," even in the New Testament. (Mat_9:24 Joh_11:11 Act_7:60 1Co_15:18, 1Co_15:51, etc.) Job, perhaps, imagined it to be, actually, a sound, dreamless slumber. Then should I have been at rest; literally, then (za) would there have been rest for me.
Vers. 13-19. The grave.
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I A REGION OF IMPENETRABLE DARKNESS.
II A REALM OF UNBROKEN SILENCE.
III AN ABODE OF DEEP TRANQUILLITY.
IV A BED OF PEACEFUL SLUMBER.
V A WORLD OF ABSOLUTE EQUALITY.
VI A PLACE OF UNIVERSAL RENDEZVOUS.
VII A HOUSE OF TEMPORARY LODGING. LESSONS.
1. Humility.
2. Contentment.
3. Diligence.
4. Watchfulness.
Vers. 13-19. The grave a rest.
In the toil and sorrow of life men long for rest. They lighten the toils and brighten the darkness of the present by the hope of repose and gladness in the future. Without such a hope life"s burdens would be much heavier than they are; and in some cases almost insupportable. As the worn labourer longs for the rest of the even-tide, so does the over-wrought spirit of the sad desire the rest of the grave. It is proper to consider if this is a healthy, a just, a well-grounded desire. To the grave men of widely different characters look for rest. Let us think of the grave
I AS LONGED FOR BY THE WEARY. "Then had I been at rest." This is not always to be commended. The present is our time for toil. These are the hours of the day. They that sleep should sleep in the night. It is not a Christian spirit to wish life shorter. Rather should we ask for grace to be faithful, even unto death. Resignation, obedience, hope, will check the desire to diminish the term of life. What is suicide but the adding violence to this desire? For our change we must wait.
II AS THE ONLY REST KNOWN TO THE IGNORANT. By Christian teaching and discipline we learn where the spirit may find rest; and we are encouraged to wait for the end of our toil. But the ignorant know nothing of this good hope.
III THE GRAVE BRINGS NO REST TO THE UNFAITHFUL. He owns rest who does a day"s work. To him that rest is sleep. To the idler death will bring no rest. It will change the conditions and surroundings of life. But it is a dire delusion to suppose that the spirit, in putting off the garment of the flesh, will escape from all toil. Its burdens are within itself, not in the fleshy tent. All sensation is in the mind during the bodily life, and all the sad weariness of the spirit, springing from consciousness of disobedience, that spirit carries with it. The sting of punishment for the wicked pierces the spirit; often through the flesh, it is true. But the sting is not left in the flesh, to be cast off when the body is laid down. The weapons of the spiritual foe penetrate beyond the clothes. The wicked deluded in life is deluded by death. Some long so eagerly for death that they rush through the thin veil that separates them from the regions of the dead. But it is rushing from darkness to light. It is rushing into the presence of the All-seeing One whose apprehended judgment upon life is the severest of all punishments.
IV THE REST OF THE GRAVE IS A TRUE REWARD TO THE FAITHFUL. Fidelity in toil has its reward in rest. To the faithful ones it is sweet. But not as a mere cessation of activity.
1. It ends for them the time of exposure to temptation.
2. It marks the limits of probation.
3. It exchanges warfare for triumph; hard toil for honourable repose; danger for safety; the cross for the crown.
4. It brings the perfectness of all blessing in the everlasting life and the fulness of joy which are promised to the obedient and the pure. R.G.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On v17 There the wicked cease from troubling.
Job_3:17
There the wicked cease from troubling.
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Wicked men trouble the world
True rest and wickedness never meet; rest and the wicked meet but seldom. And it is but half a rest, and it is rest but to half a wicked man, to his bones in the grave; and it is rest to that half but for a little time, only till the resurrection. The word here used, and in divers other places, signifieth wickedness in the height, and men most active in wickedness. So that when Job saith, There the wicked are at rest, he means those who had been restless in sin, who could not sleep till they had done mischief, nor scarce sleep for doing mischief; he means those who had outrun others in the sinful activity (Act_26:11).
1. Wicked men are troublers both of themselves and others. There the wicked cease from troubling; as if the wicked did nothing in the world, but trouble the world. Wicked ones are the troublers of all; they are troublers of their own families, troublers of the places and cities where they live, the troublers of a whole kingdom, troublers of the Churches of Christ, and the troublers of their own souls.
2. Wicked men, by troubling others, do as much weary and tire out themselves.
3. Wicked men will never cease troubling until they cease to live. In the grave they cease troubling, there they are at rest. If they should live an eternity in this world, they would trouble the world to eternity. As a godly man never gives over doing good, he will do good as long as he lives, though he fetches many a weary step; so wicked men never give over doing evil, until they step into the grave. And the reason of it is, because it is their nature to do evil. The wicked will sin while they have any light to sin by; therefore God puts out their candle, and sends them down into darkness, and there they will be quiet. The wicked shall be silent in darkness. (J. Caryl.)
And the weary are at rest.--
The rest of the grave
In the grave--where kings and princes and infants lie. This verse is often applied to heaven, and the language is such as will express the condition of that blessed world. But, as used by Job, it had no such reference. It relates only to the grave. It is language which beautifully expresses the condition of the dead, and the desirableness even of an abode in the tomb. They who are there are free from the vexations and annoyances to which men are exposed in this life; the wicked cannot torture their limbs by the fires of persecution, or wound their feelings by slander, or oppress and harass them in regard to their property, or distress them by thwarting their plans, or injure them by impugning their motives. All is peaceful and calm in the grave, and there is a place where the malicious designs of wicked men cannot reach us. The object of this verse and the two following is to show the reasons why it was desirable to be in the grave, rather than to live and to suffer the ills of this life. We are not to suppose that Job referred exclusively to his own case in all this. He is describing, in general, the happy condition of the dead, and we have no reason to think that he had been particularly annoyed by wicked men. But the pious often are; and hence it should be a matter of gratitude that there is one place, at least, where the wicked cannot annoy the good, and where the persecuted, the oppressed, and the slandered, may lie down in peace. For there the weary be at rest, the margin has wearied in strength. And the margin is according to the Hebrew. The meaning is, those whose strength is exhausted, who are worn down with the toils and cares of life, and who feel the need of rest. Never was more beautiful language employed than occurs in this verse. What a charm such language throws even over the grave--like strewing flowers and planting roses around the tomb! Who should fear to die, if prepared, when such is to be the condition of the dead? Who is there that is not in some way troubled by the wicked--by their thoughtless, godless life by persecution, contempt, and slander? (comp. 2Pe_2:8; Psa_39:1) Who is there that is not at some time weary with his load of care, anxiety, and trouble? Who is there whose strength does not become exhausted, and to whom rest is not grateful and refreshing? And who is there, therefore, to whom, if prepared for heaven, the grave would not be a place of calm and grateful rest? And though true religion will not prompt us to wish that we had lain down there in early childhood, as Job wished, yet no dictate of piety is violated when we look forward with calm delight to the time when we may repose where the wicked cease from troubling, and where the weary are at rest. O grave, thou art a peaceful spot! Thy rest is calm; thy slumbers are sweet. (Albert Barnes.)
Desire to depart
Thorns in our nest make us take to our wings; the embittering of this cup makes us earnestly desire to drink of the new wine of the kingdom. We are very much like our poor, who would stay at home in England, and put up with their lot, hard though it be; but when at last there comes a worse distress than usual, then straightway they talk of emigrating to those fair and boundless fields across the Atlantic, where a kindred nation will welcome them with joy, So here we are in our poverty, and we make the best of it we can; but a sharp distress wounds our spirit, and then we say we will away to Canaan, to the land that floweth with milk and honey, for there we shall suffer no distress, neither shall our spirits hunger any more. (J. Trapp.)
Departed trouble, and welcome rest
There the winked cease from troubling; and there the weary be at rest. The day was, when it was thought fit that the Christians last resting place should be surrounded by gloomy and repulsive associations. It is not of peaceful rest that the burying place of the Middle Ages would remind you. We all remember the locked up, deserted, neglected churchyard, all grown over with great weeds and nettles, and not like Gods acre at all. How much more appropriate are the quiet, beautiful, open, carefully tended cemeteries of today! It is not merely better judgment but sounder faith that is here. It is a thoroughly Christian thing, to scatter the beauties of nature around the Christian grave. In the text I see something that is like turning the ghastly, neglected, nettle-grown churchyard which we may remember in childhood, into the quiet, sweet, thoughtful sleeping place which we find so common now. The text speaks to us over nearly four thousand years. Job lived in days when the light of truth was dim; Jesus had not yet brought life and immortality to light; so it is possible that we are able to understand Jobs words more fully and better than he understood them himself. The text may be read first of the grave; but in its best meaning it speaks of a better world, to which the grave is the portal.
I. These words as spoken of the grave, the house appointed for all living. We need not justify the impatient burst in which Job wished, as many others have wished since, that he had never been born. Job speaks of the rest to which he would gladly have gone. He would have slumbered with the wise, the great, and the good: how he would have lain still and been quiet, where trouble could never come, in the peaceful grave. There the wicked cease from troubling. There is one place into which the suffering can escape, where their persecutors have no power. There is nothing more striking about the state of those who have gone into the unseen world than the completeness of their escape from all worldly enemies, however malignant and however powerful. But there is something beyond the mere escape from worldly evil. Now the busy heart is quiet at last, and the weary head lies still. What a multitude there is of these weary ones. But there is a certain delusion in thinking of the grave as a place of quiet rest. The soul lives still, and is awake and conscious, though the body sleeps; and it is our souls that are ourselves. We have no warrant for believing that in the other world there will be any season of unconsciousness to the soul.
II. Take the words in their higher and truer meaning. They speak of a better world, whose two great characteristics are safety and peace.
1. There is safety and the sense of safety. Everything wicked--evil spirits, evil thoughts, evil influences cease from troubling. Everything evil, whether within us or around us, shall be done with. If evil were gone, trouble would go too. The great thing about evil and trouble here is not so much the pain and suffering they cause us, as the terrible power they have to do us fearful spiritual harm.
2. Besides the negative assurance, that trouble will be done with in heaven, we have the promise of a positive blessing. There the weary are at rest. The peace and happiness of the better world are summed up in that word. The end of work is to enjoy rest, said one of the wisest of heathen. Doubtless there will be rest from sin, from sorrow, from toil, from anxiety, from temptation, from pain; but all that fails to convey the whole unspeakable truth; it will be the beatific presence of the Saviour that will make the weary soul feel it never knew rest before! In that world the bliss will be restful, calm, satisfied, self-possessed, sublime. The only rest that can ever truly and permanently quiet the human heart is that which the Saviour gives. His peace. And He gives it only to His own. (A. K. H. Boyd.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv13, 15, 17 For now I would have been lying down quietly.…
For now I would have been lying down quietly. I would have slept and been at rest
Job uses two sentences to think about what it would be like if he had never been born or had died at birth. (See: Parallelism and Euphemism)
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I would have been lying down quietly
Job imagines something that could have happened in the past but which did not happen, as noted above. AT: "I should have been lying down quietly" (See: Hypothetical Situations)
lying down quietly
"asleep, resting peacefully"
been at rest
Here the word "rest" means to sleep peacefully, but also that Job would not be experiencing the pain that he does. (See: Idiom)
with kings and counselors of the earth
"with kings and their advisers"
translationWords
asleep
king
advice
earth
grave
ruin
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv14–15 3:14 The dead were thought to continue their identities…
3:14 The dead were thought to continue their identities and social status after death. Perhaps Job wanted the world’s kings and prime ministers to acknowledge his own princely status (1:3).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.