Bible Strands
Job 4:19
how much more those who dwell in houses of clay, whose foundations are in the dust, who can be crushed like a moth!
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Eliphaz addresses Job, arguing that if God finds fault with His heavenly servants and angels, human beings are even more exposed to destruction.
The words — The Hebrew word חֹמֶר (ḥomer) translates to "clay," and יְסוֹדָם (yesodam) means "their foundation," directly describing the material composition and unstable base of human life.
The thread — The pattern of humanity formed from earth and returning to it runs through Genesis 2:7, Genesis 3:19, and Job 10:9.
Why it lands — The verse demands acknowledgment of human fragility and mortality, requiring readers to weigh their own temporary existence against divine authority without presuming permanent safety.
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
How much less in them that dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, which are crushed before the moth?
Cross-references
- Job 10:9 Please remember that You molded me like clay. Would You now return me to dust?
- Genesis 2:7 Then the LORD God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and the man became a living being.
- Genesis 3:19 By the sweat of your brow you will eat your bread, until you return to the ground—because out of it were you taken. For dust you are, and to dust you shall return.”
- Job 33:6 I am just like you before God; I was also formed from clay.
- Genesis 18:27 Then Abraham answered, “Now that I have ventured to speak to the Lord—though I am but dust and ashes—
- Job 13:12 Your maxims are proverbs of ashes; your defenses are defenses of clay.
- Job 13:28 So man wastes away like something rotten, like a moth-eaten garment.
- Psalms 39:11 You discipline and correct a man for his iniquity, consuming like a moth what he holds dear; surely each man is but a vapor. Selah
- 2 Corinthians 4:7 Now we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this surpassingly great power is from God and not from us.
- 2 Corinthians 5:1 For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is dismantled, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands.