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Job 17:16

Made Simple — Modern English Translation

Translated by Verse Made Simple Editorial
KJV ORIGINAL
They shall go down to the bars of the pit, when our rest together is in the dust.
Close to the original. Clear modern English.
✦ MADE SIMPLE

They will go down to the gates of the grave, when we all rest together in the dust.

⚡ THE BOTTOM LINE

Job is saying that both he and his hopes will end up in death and the grave together.

📚 Historical Context

In the Book of Job, which is set in the ancient Near East during a time when people grappled with unexplained suffering, Job is in the depths of his anguish after losing his family, health, and wealth, and he's debating with his friends who insist his troubles are due to sin. This verse reflects Job's despair as he contemplates death, using imagery like the "bars of the pit" to describe Sheol, the biblical concept of the underworld where the dead reside, and "rest in the dust" to signify burial in the grave. Such expressions were common in ancient Hebrew poetry to convey the inevitability of mortality and the mystery of God's ways.

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