Bible Strands
Job 17:14
and say to corruption, ‘You are my father,’ and to the worm, ‘My mother,’ or ‘My sister,’
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Job speaks from a state of profound despair, addressing decay and the grave as if they were his only remaining family. He articulates this declaration immediately after stating his intent to make Sheol his home and spread his bed in darkness.
The words — The Hebrew uses שַׁחַת (sha·chat), meaning "pit" or "corruption," and רִמָּה (ri·mah), meaning "maggot" or "worm." Job declares he has called out to them, addressing corruption as his father and the maggot as his mother or sister.
The thread — This imagery of decay as kin and the grave as home runs parallel to Job 21:26 and Job 13:28, while the declared hopelessness stands in direct contrast to the promise in Psalms 16:10 that God will not abandon the soul to Sheol.
Why it lands — The text forces a reader to confront the logical endpoint of a life stripped of hope and divine presence. It demands an acknowledgment of total human mortality before any subsequent claim of deliverance can be meaningfully evaluated.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
I have said to corruption, Thou art my father: to the worm, Thou art my mother, and my sister.
Cross-references
- Psalms 16:10 For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol, nor will You let Your Holy One see decay.
- Job 13:28 So man wastes away like something rotten, like a moth-eaten garment.
- Job 21:26 But together they lie down in the dust, and worms cover them both.
- Job 21:32 He is carried to the grave, and watch is kept over his tomb.
- Job 24:20 The womb forgets them; the worm feeds on them; they are remembered no more. So injustice is broken like a tree.
- Job 30:30 My skin grows black and peels, and my bones burn with fever.
- Psalms 49:9 that he should live on forever and not see decay.
- Isaiah 14:11 Your pomp has been brought down to Sheol, along with the music of your harps. Maggots are your bed and worms your blanket.
- Acts 2:27 because You will not abandon my soul to Hades, nor will You let Your Holy One see decay.
- Acts 13:34 In fact, God raised Him from the dead, never to see decay. As He has said: ‘I will give you the holy and sure blessings promised to David.’