Job 17:16
New International Version
Will it go down to the gates of death? Will we descend together into the dust?”

New Living Translation
No, my hope will go down with me to the grave. We will rest together in the dust!”

English Standard Version
Will it go down to the bars of Sheol? Shall we descend together into the dust?”

Berean Standard Bible
Will it go down to the gates of Sheol? Will we go down together into the dust?”

King James Bible
They shall go down to the bars of the pit, when our rest together is in the dust.

New King James Version
Will they go down to the gates of Sheol? Shall we have rest together in the dust?”

New American Standard Bible
“Will it go down with me to Sheol? Shall we together go down into the dust?”

NASB 1995
“Will it go down with me to Sheol? Shall we together go down into the dust?”

NASB 1977
“Will it go down with me to Sheol? Shall we together go down into the dust?”

Legacy Standard Bible
Will it go down with me to Sheol? Shall we together go down into the dust?”

Amplified Bible
“Will my hope go down with me to Sheol (the nether world, the place of the dead)? Shall we go down together in the dust?”

Christian Standard Bible
Will it go down to the gates of Sheol, or will we descend together to the dust?

Holman Christian Standard Bible
Will it go down to the gates of Sheol, or will we descend together to the dust?

American Standard Version
It shall go down to the bars of Sheol, When once there is rest in the dust.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
Into the bottom to Sheol you will go down!’ And together to the dust they shall descend!”

Brenton Septuagint Translation
Will they go down with me to Hades, or shall we go down together to the tomb?

Contemporary English Version
Will it keep me company in the world of the dead?

Douay-Rheims Bible
All that I have shall go down into the deepest pit: thinkest thou that there at least I shall have rest?

English Revised Version
It shall go down to the bars of Sheol, when once there is rest in the dust.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
Will hope go down with me to the gates of the grave? Will my hope rest with me in the dust?"

Good News Translation
Hope will not go with me when I go down to the world of the dead.

International Standard Version
Will it go down to the bars that lock the doors of the afterlife? Will we descend together into the dust?"

JPS Tanakh 1917
They shall go down to the bars of the nether-world, When we are at rest together in the dust.

Literal Standard Version
You go down [to] the parts of Sheol, | If we may rest together on the dust.”

Majority Standard Bible
Will it go down to the gates of Sheol? Will we go down together into the dust?”

New American Bible
Will they descend with me into Sheol? Shall we go down together into the dust?

NET Bible
Will it go down to the barred gates of death? Will we descend together into the dust?"

New Revised Standard Version
Will it go down to the bars of Sheol? Shall we descend together into the dust?”

New Heart English Bible
Shall it go down with me to the gates of Sheol, or descend together into the dust?"

Webster's Bible Translation
They shall go down to the bars of the pit, when our rest together is in the dust.

World English Bible
Shall it go down with me to the gates of Sheol, or descend together into the dust?”

Young's Literal Translation
To the parts of Sheol ye go down, If together on the dust we may rest.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Job Prepares for Death
15where then is my hope? Who can see any hope for me? 16Will it go down to the gates of Sheol? Will we go down together into the dust?”

Cross References
Job 3:17
There the wicked cease from raging, and there the weary find rest.

Job 7:6
My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle; they come to an end without hope.

Job 7:9
As a cloud vanishes and is gone, so he who goes down to Sheol does not come back up.

Job 18:1
Then Bildad the Shuhite replied:

Job 21:33
The clods of the valley are sweet to him; everyone follows behind him, and those before him are without number.


Treasury of Scripture

They shall go down to the bars of the pit, when our rest together is in the dust.

the bars of the pit

Job 18:13,14
It shall devour the strength of his skin: even the firstborn of death shall devour his strength…

Job 33:18-28
He keepeth back his soul from the pit, and his life from perishing by the sword…

Psalm 88:4-8
I am counted with them that go down into the pit: I am as a man that hath no strength: …

rest

Job 3:17-19
There the wicked cease from troubling; and there the weary be at rest…

Ezekiel 37:11
Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts.

2 Corinthians 1:9
But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead:

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Job 17
1. Job appeals from men to God
6. The unmerciful dealing of men with the afflicted may astonish,
9. but not discourage the righteous
11. His hope is not in life, but in death














(16) They shall go down to the bars of the pit.--The last verse of this chapter, which is itself one of the most difficult, is the most difficult of all. The difficulty consists in this: the bars of the grave are masculine, and the verb, they shall go down, is feminine plural; it seems improbable that the bars of the grave should be the subject of the verb (though perhaps not absolutely impossible); but if the bars of the grave are the place to which the going down is, as in the Authorised Version, then what is the subject to the verb, go down, seeing that hope, the apparent subject, is a feminine singular? Some render "it shall go down," but this is in defiance of the grammar, though, probably, the meaning it conveys is not far from the truth. The words clearly express a condition of utter despair, and that Job's only hope of rest is in the grave. It is a rule in Hebrew grammar that when the verb precedes its subject it need not agree with it in gender or number; but here the verb must, at all events, come after its subject, and consequently, it is very difficult to determine what that subject is. The only apparent subject is to be found in the corruption of the worm of Job 17:14; but they, instead of going down to the grave, are already there.

Verse 16. - They shall go down to the bars of the pit, when our rest together is in the dust. There is great difficulty in determining the subject to the verb "go down," which is the third person plural feminine, whereas the only plural substantive at all near - the word translated "bars" - is masculine. Some suppose Job's hopes to be meant, "hope" in the preceding verse having the force of any number of "hopes" (so the R.V.) Others disregard the grammatical difficulty of the plural feminine verb, and, making "bars" the nominative, translate, "The bars of Sheol shall go down," i.e. "be broken down, perish;" or interrogatively, "Shall the bars of Sheol go down?" This rendering is thought to be "in harmony with the whole undercurrent of thought in the chapter;" but it has not approved itself to many commentators. The present commentator must acknowledge that he is unable to attach any satisfactory meaning to the words of the Hebrew text.



Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
Will it go down
תֵּרַ֑דְנָה (tê·raḏ·nāh)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - third person feminine plural
Strong's 3381: To come or go down, descend

to the gates
בַּדֵּ֣י (bad·dê)
Noun - masculine plural construct
Strong's 905: Separation, a part of the body, branch of a, tree, bar for, carrying, chief of

of Sheol?
שְׁאֹ֣ל (šə·’ōl)
Noun - common singular
Strong's 7585: Underworld (place to which people descend at death)

Will we go down
נָֽחַת׃ (nā·ḥaṯ)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - first person common plural
Strong's 5183: A descent, imposition, unfavorable, favorable, restfulness

together
יַ֖חַד (ya·ḥaḏ)
Adverb
Strong's 3162: A unit, unitedly

into
עַל־ (‘al-)
Preposition
Strong's 5921: Above, over, upon, against

the dust?”
עָפָ֣ר (‘ā·p̄ār)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 6083: Dust, clay, earth, mud


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OT Poetry: Job 17:16 Shall it go down with me (Jb)
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