Job 21:23-26

4. The only equality is to be found in death. (Job 21:23-26)

TEXT 21:23-26

23 One dieth in his full strength,

Being wholly at ease and quiet:

24 His pails are full of milk,

And the marrow of his bones is moistened.

25 And another dieth in bitterness of soul,

And never tasteth of good.

26 They lie down alike in the dust,

And the worm covereth them.

COMMENT 21:23-26

Job 21:23One dies in his perfection, i.e., prime of life. Death levels everyoneJob 21:23-26. One person dies in prosperity, another in poverty.

Job 21:24The Hebrew hardly says what the A. V. provides in the first line. The first word is a hapaz (does not appear elsewhere) but perhaps is a euphemism for buttocks which is plump or fat (emend halabmilkto helebfat). The second line contains figures (moist bones are figures of health) which suggest that the person is well fed or prosperous. Death takes them all, regardless of social status or physical condition.

Job 21:25The verse is Job's description of himselfJob 3:20 and Job 7:7.

Job 21:26The ungodly and the righteous share the samedeathEcclesiastes 2:14 ff. It is the dissimilarity in the human fate, rather than retribution, which moves JobJob 17:14; Isaiah 14:11 b.