Translations
F.O.G.MPrimary
F.O.G MessageWill my hope go down with me behind the bars of the grave? Together we will sink into the dust—and there, at last, find rest.
F.O.GSecondary
The F.O.GWill it descend with me to the bars of Sheol? Shall we together sink down into the dust?
KJV
King James VersionThey shall go down to the bars of the pit, when our rest together is in the dust.
BSB
Berean Standard BibleWill it go down to the gates of Sheol? Will we go down together into the dust?”
Footnotes
בַּדֵּי שְׁאֹל (*baddei sheol*) — 'the bars/poles of Sheol' — *baddei* can mean the poles of a carrying frame, or the bars/bolts of a gate, picturing Sheol as a locked city whose gates prevent return (cf. Jonah 2:6; Isa. 38:10). Job's hope, like him, will be entombed. עָפָר (*afar*) — 'dust' — is the language of Gen. 3:19, the return to the ground from which Adam was formed, closing a theological circle. נָחַת (*nachat*) — 'rest/descent' — is beautifully ambiguous: either 'we descend together' or 'there is rest together in the dust.' FOG renders descent; FOG Message draws out the aching irony of dust as the only rest Job can envision—a silence that anticipates the whirlwind of ch. 38.