Job Chapter 17 verse 16 Holy Bible
It shall go down to the bars of Sheol, When once there is rest in the dust.
read chapter 17 in ASV
Will they go down with me into the underworld? Will we go down together into the dust?
read chapter 17 in BBE
It shall go down to the bars of Sheol, when [our] rest shall be together in the dust.
read chapter 17 in DARBY
They shall go down to the bars of the pit, when our rest together is in the dust.
read chapter 17 in KJV
They shall go down to the bars of the pit, when our rest together is in the dust.
read chapter 17 in WBT
Shall it go down with me to the gates of Sheol, Or descend together into the dust?"
read chapter 17 in WEB
`To' the parts of Sheol ye go down, If together on the dust we may rest.
read chapter 17 in YLT
Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 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.
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(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.
