Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary

Adam Clarke Commentary

The grave is mine house - Let my life be long or short, the grave at last will be my home. I expect soon to lie down in darkness - there is my end: I cannot reasonably hope for any thing else.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

If I wait - Or more accurately, “truly I expect that the grave will be my home.” The word rendered “if” (אם 'ı̂m ) is often used in such a sense. The meaning is, “I look certainly to the grave as my home. I have made up my mind to it, and have no other expectation.”

The grave - Hebrew שׁאול she'ôl It may mean here either the grave, or the region of departed spirits, to which he expected soon to descend.

Mine house - My home; my permanent abode.

I have made my bed - I am certain of making my bed there. I shall soon lie down there.

In the darkness - In the grave, or in the dark world to which it leads; see the notes at Job 10:21-22.

The Biblical Illustrator

Job 17:13

If I wait, the grave is mine house.

The house of the grave

I. Describe the house.

1. The grave is a very spacious house.

2. It is very dark and dreary.

3. It is a house of silence. It is empty.

4. It is the house of corruption.

5. It is the house of oblivion.

II. All men are going to this house.

1. This lot is ours by the appointment of God.

2. Ever since God appointed death, He has been carrying mankind to the grave in a constant and uninterrupted succession.

3. We not only see the mortality in others, but feel it coming upon ourselves.

III. Why we should keep this serious truth in mind.

1. Because God requires men to keep their mortality in view.

2. God takes many methods to impress this important truth upon men’s hearts.

3. It is necessary in order to their forming all their worldly schemes with wisdom and propriety.

4. In order to form a just estimate of the world and its inhabitants.

5. In order to prepare them to endure the trials and afflictions of the present life with patience and fortitude.

6. It will have a direct tendency to prepare men for death when it comes. Improvement. Every way of thinking and acting is sinful, which tends to banish the thoughts of death from our minds. (N. Emmons, D. D.)

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

If I wait, the grave is mine house,.... Not that Job put an "if" upon, or made a doubt of waiting upon God in private or public; or of waiting for him, his gracious appearances to him, answers of prayer, performance of promises, and deliverance out of trouble; and especially of waiting his appointed time till his change came, and hoping and expecting eternal life and happiness; all which he determined to do, and did, see Job 13:15; but he says this with respect to the advice of his friends, which should it be taken, the issue of would be no other than what he here suggests; they had intimated, that if he repented and reformed, he might hope for and expect a peaceable tabernacle, and a prosperous habitation, a line house, and affluent circumstances, Job 5:24. Now, says he, should I listen to this, and endeavour to cherish some hope and expectation of small things, and put myself in a waiting posture for them, alas! how soon would it be over, for what other house can I rationally expect but the grave? and this is what I have upon; I think of no other house than that, which is man's long home, the house appointed for all living; there I shall dwell, and make my abode until the morning of the resurrection, and I look for no other; and if I should, I am well assured! should be disappointed:

I have made my bed in the darkness: in the dark grave, where the light of the body is extinct, and where the light of the sun comes not; in houses there are various apartments, some for work and business, as is the shop; others for eating and drinking, as the dining room; and others for sleep and rest, as the bedchamber; now in the house of the grave there is no mention of any but the latter; for there is no work and device in the grave, nor eating and drinking there; but it is a bed where the weary saint lies down and rests upon from all his toil and labour, until he awakes at the resurrection: now Job had settled the matter with himself, he had laid it out in his own mind, and taken a kind of pleasure in the prospect of it; that he had got a house to move into, when he was dislodged from the earthly house of his tabernacle, and where he had made himself, in his own thought, an easy bed, on which he should lay his weary limbs, and take his sleep and rest, until the heavens be no more.

Geneva Study Bible

(n) Though I should hope to come from adversity to prosperity, as your discourse pretends.

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

Rather, “if I wait for this grave (Sheol, or the unseen world) as my house, and make my bed in the darkness (Job 17:14), and say to corruption,” rather, “to the pit” or “grave,” etc. (Job 17:15). Where then is my hope? [Umbreit]. The apodosis is at Job 17:15.

Wesley's Explanatory Notes

If I wait, the grave is mine house: I have made my bed in the darkness.

Wait — For deliverance, I should be disappointed; for I am upon the borders of the grave, I expect no rest but in the dark grave, for which therefore I prepare myself. I endeavour to make it easy, by keeping my conscience pure, by seeing Christ lying in this bed, (so turning it into a bed of spices) and by looking beyond it to the resurrection.

John Trapp Complete Commentary

Job 17:13 If I wait, the grave [is] mine house: I have made my bed in the darkness.

Ver. 13. If I wait, the grave is mine house] In that congregation house of all living (as it is called, Job 30:23) both I and my hopes must be suddenly lodged. Some render it thus, If I build, the grave is my house. Solomon calleth it, The house of eternity, Ecclesiastes 12:5. And the Egyptians accordingly call graves everlasting houses, as Siculus saith, lib. i.

I have made my bed in darkness] The grave was Job’s house, and therein he had made his bed to rest from his labours. There men follow their works no more, because followed by their works, Revelation 14:13.

Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible

Job 17:13. If I wait, the grave is mine house— I have no hope; the grave is my house: I have spread my couch in darkness.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible

If I wait; if I should give way to those hopes of my deliverance and restoration which you suggest to me.

The grave is mine house: I should be sadly disappointed; for I am upon the borders of the grave, which is the only house appointed for me, instead of that goodly house which you promise to me here upon condition of my repentance.

I have made my bed in darkness; I expect no other rest but in the dark grave, for which therefore I prepare myself.

Whedon's Commentary on the Bible

13.If I wait — Lo, I wait my abode, (sheol.)

House — The ancient Egyptians designated the tomb as their house. (See note Job 3:15.)

Made my bed — Spread my couch. Aristobulus saw in the tomb of Cyrus a golden couch, a table with cups, a golden coffin, and a large quantity of garments ornamented with precious stones. (Strabo, xv, chap. Job 3:7.)

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments

Job 17:13. If I wait, the grave is my house — Hebrew, אם אקוה, im akaveh, If I eagerly desire and expect any thing now, it is the grave, the only habitation I can promise myself; and which I am just entering. There I am going to rest in a bed where I shall not be disturbed, for which therefore I am preparing myself. In all situations, and amidst all changes, we should keep the grave in view, the bed in which we are shortly to lie, and, by preparation for it, should endeavour to make it easy, namely, by securing peace with God, by keeping our consciences pure, by seeing Christ lying in this bed, and so turning it into a bed of spices, and by looking beyond it to the resurrection.

George Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

Hell. Seol. The region of the dead. (Challoner) --- Protestants, "grave." (Haydock) --- But this text proves that there was a place of rest called hell. (Worthington) --- He speaks here chiefly of the body. (Calmet) --- Mors ultima linea rerum est. (Horace) --- "Death is the end of all." (Haydock) --- If I refrain from complaining, still I cannot expect to be restored to health.

Mark Dunagan Commentary on the Bible

He was so close to dying that he could call the pit (the grave) his father, and he could refer to the worm that would consume his body, as his mother or sister.

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes

the grave. Hebrew. Sheol. App-35. Compare Job 17:16.

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Unabridged

If I wait, the grave is mine house: I have made my bed in the darkness.

Rather, if I wait for the grave (scheol or the unseen world) as my house, and make my bed in the darkness (Job 17:14), and say to corruption-rather, to the pit or grave [ shachat (Hebrew #7845)] etc. (Job 17:15) - Where, then, is my hope? (Umbreit). The apodosis is at Job 17:15.

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

If I wait

14:14; Psalms 27:14; Lamentations 3:25,26

the grave

1; 10:21,22; 30:23

I have made

Psalms 139:8; Isaiah 57:2