Job 27:18
New International Version
The house he builds is like a moth’s cocoon, like a hut made by a watchman.

New Living Translation
The wicked build houses as fragile as a spider’s web, as flimsy as a shelter made of branches.

English Standard Version
He builds his house like a moth’s, like a booth that a watchman makes.

Berean Standard Bible
The house he built is like a moth’s cocoon, like a hut set up by a watchman.

King James Bible
He buildeth his house as a moth, and as a booth that the keeper maketh.

New King James Version
He builds his house like a moth, Like a booth which a watchman makes.

New American Standard Bible
“He has built his house like the spider’s web, Or a hut which the watchman has made.

NASB 1995
“He has built his house like the spider’s web, Or as a hut which the watchman has made.

NASB 1977
“He has built his house like the spider’s web, Or as a hut which the watchman has made.

Legacy Standard Bible
He has built his house like the moth, Or as a hut which the watchman has made.

Amplified Bible
“He builds his house like a spider’s web, Like a (temporary) hut which a watchman makes.

Christian Standard Bible
The house he built is like a moth’s cocoon or a shelter set up by a watchman.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
The house he built is like a moth’s cocoon or a booth set up by a watchman.

American Standard Version
He buildeth his house as the moth, And as a booth which the keeper maketh.

Contemporary English Version
No homes built by the wicked will outlast a cocoon or a shack.

English Revised Version
He buildeth his house as the moth, and as a booth which the keeper maketh.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
He builds his house like a moth, like a shack that a watchman makes.

Good News Translation
The wicked build houses like a spider's web or like the hut of a slave guarding the fields.

International Standard Version
"He has built his house like a moth's cocoon, like a temporary sunshade that a watchman makes.

Majority Standard Bible
The house he built is like a moth?s cocoon, like a hut set up by a watchman.

NET Bible
The house he builds is as fragile as a moth's cocoon, like a hut that a watchman has made.

New Heart English Bible
He builds his house as the moth, as a booth which the watchman makes.

Webster's Bible Translation
He buildeth his house as a moth, and as a booth that the keeper maketh.

World English Bible
He builds his house as the moth, as a booth which the watchman makes.
Literal Translations
Literal Standard Version
He has built his house as a moth, "" And as a shelter a watchman has made.

Young's Literal Translation
He hath built as a moth his house, And as a booth a watchman hath made.

Smith's Literal Translation
He built his house as the moth, and as a booth he watching made.
Catholic Translations
Douay-Rheims Bible
He hath built his house as a moth, and as a keeper he hath made a booth.

Catholic Public Domain Version
He has built his house like a moth, and he has made a makeshift shelter like a sentry.

New American Bible
He builds his house as of cobwebs, or like a booth put up by a watchman.

New Revised Standard Version
They build their houses like nests, like booths made by sentinels of the vineyard.
Translations from Aramaic
Lamsa Bible
For the wicked has built his house upon a spider's web, and like a booth he had made his shelter.

Peshitta Holy Bible Translated
For he builds his house like spiders, and he made his tabernacle like a booth
OT Translations
JPS Tanakh 1917
He buildeth his house as a moth, And as a booth which the keeper maketh.

Brenton Septuagint Translation
And his house is gone like moths, and like a spider's web.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
The Wicked Man's Portion
17what he lays up, the righteous will wear, and his silver will be divided by the innocent. 18The house he built is like a moth’s cocoon, like a hut set up by a watchman. 19He lies down wealthy, but will do so no more; when he opens his eyes, all is gone.…

Cross References
Matthew 7:24-27
Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. / The rain fell, the torrents raged, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because its foundation was on the rock. / But everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. ...

Luke 6:47-49
I will show you what he is like who comes to Me and hears My words and acts on them: / He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid his foundation on the rock. When the flood came, the torrent crashed against that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. / But the one who hears My words and does not act on them is like a man who built his house on ground without a foundation. The torrent crashed against that house, and immediately it fell—and great was its destruction!”

Proverbs 14:11
The house of the wicked will be destroyed, but the tent of the upright will flourish.

Psalm 49:11-12
Their graves are their eternal homes—their dwellings for endless generations—even though their lands were their namesakes. / But a man, despite his wealth, cannot endure; he is like the beasts that perish.

Ecclesiastes 2:18-19
I hated all for which I had toiled under the sun, because I must leave it to the man who comes after me. / And who knows whether that man will be wise or foolish? Yet he will take over all the labor at which I have worked skillfully under the sun. This too is futile.

1 Timothy 6:7
For we brought nothing into the world, so we cannot carry anything out of it.

James 1:10-11
But the one who is rich should exult in his low position, because he will pass away like a flower of the field. / For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its flower falls and its beauty is lost. So too, the rich man will fade away in the midst of his pursuits.

Psalm 39:6
Surely every man goes about like a phantom; surely he bustles in vain; he heaps up riches not knowing who will haul them away.

1 Corinthians 3:12-15
If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or straw, / his workmanship will be evident, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will prove the quality of each man’s work. / If what he has built survives, he will receive a reward. ...

Isaiah 40:6-8
A voice says, “Cry out!” And I asked, “What should I cry out?” “All flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flowers of the field. / The grass withers and the flowers fall when the breath of the LORD blows on them; indeed, the people are grass. / The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.”

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.

Matthew 6:19-20
Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. / But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.

Luke 12:16-21
Then He told them a parable: “The ground of a certain rich man produced an abundance. / So he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, since I have nowhere to store my crops?’ / Then he said, ‘This is what I will do: I will tear down my barns and will build bigger ones, and there I will store up all my grain and my goods. ...

Proverbs 10:25
When the whirlwind passes, the wicked are no more, but the righteous are secure forever.

Psalm 73:18-20
Surely You set them on slick ground; You cast them down into ruin. / How suddenly they are laid waste, completely swept away by terrors! / Like one waking from a dream, so You, O Lord, awaken and despise their form.


Treasury of Scripture

He builds his house as a moth, and as a booth that the keeper makes.

as a moth

Job 8:14,15
Whose hope shall be cut off, and whose trust shall be a spider's web…

Isaiah 51:8
For the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool: but my righteousness shall be for ever, and my salvation from generation to generation.

as a booth

Isaiah 1:8
And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city.

Isaiah 38:12
Mine age is departed, and is removed from me as a shepherd's tent: I have cut off like a weaver my life: he will cut me off with pining sickness: from day even to night wilt thou make an end of me.

Lamentations 2:6
And he hath violently taken away his tabernacle, as if it were of a garden: he hath destroyed his places of the assembly: the LORD hath caused the solemn feasts and sabbaths to be forgotten in Zion, and hath despised in the indignation of his anger the king and the priest.

Jump to Previous
Booth Buildeth Builds Built House Hut Keeper Makes Maketh Moth Spider's Strength Tent Thread Watchman Watchman's Web
Jump to Next
Booth Buildeth Builds Built House Hut Keeper Makes Maketh Moth Spider's Strength Tent Thread Watchman Watchman's Web
Job 27
1. Job protests his sincerity
8. The hypocrite is without hope
11. The blessings which the wicked have are turned into curses














He builds his house like a moth, like a hut made by a watchman
He builds his house
The phrase "He builds his house" suggests a deliberate and intentional act of construction. In the Hebrew context, the word for "builds" (בָּנָה, banah) often implies establishing or creating something with purpose. This reflects the human endeavor to create stability and security in life. However, the verse implies a futility in this effort, as the subsequent comparison to a moth indicates. In the broader biblical narrative, building a house can symbolize establishing one's life or legacy, yet without a foundation in God, such efforts are ultimately fragile.

like a moth
The comparison "like a moth" is striking in its imagery. Moths are delicate creatures, often associated with fragility and transience. In the Hebrew text, the word for moth (עָשׁ, ash) conveys the idea of something easily destroyed or fleeting. This metaphor suggests that the house, or life, built by the wicked is inherently unstable and temporary. The moth's life is short-lived, and its presence is often unnoticed until it is gone, much like the fleeting success of those who do not anchor their lives in righteousness.

like a hut made by a watchman
The phrase "like a hut made by a watchman" further emphasizes the temporary and precarious nature of the wicked's endeavors. In ancient times, a watchman's hut was a simple, temporary shelter, often constructed hastily and without permanence. The Hebrew word for hut (סֻכָּה, sukkah) can also refer to a booth or shelter used during the harvest, underscoring its impermanence. This imagery serves as a powerful reminder that without a foundation in God, human efforts are as transient as a watchman's hut, easily dismantled and lacking lasting security.

Verse 18. - He buildeth his house as a moth. The moth is the symbol of fragility, decay, and weakness. The wicked man's attempt to build himself up a house, and establish a powerful family, is no better than a moth's attempt to make itself a permanent habitation. As moths do not construct dwellings for themselves, it has been proposed (Merx) to read כעכבישׁ, "as a spider," for מעשׁ, "as a moth;" but the change is too great to be at all probable. May not the cocoon, from which the moth issues as. from a house, have been in Job's mind? The hawk-moth buries itself in a neat cave for the pupa stage; and there may have been even better examples in Uz. But we ourselves have not known these facts long, and therefore we need not be surprised to find Job making a mistake in natural history. And as a booth that the keeper maketh. Huts or lodges of boughs were set up in vineyards and orchards by those who had to watch them (see Isaiah 1:8; Lamentations 2:6). They were habitations of the weakest and frailest kind.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
The house
בֵּית֑וֹ (bê·ṯōw)
Noun - masculine singular construct | third person masculine singular
Strong's 1004: A house

he built
בָּנָ֣ה (bā·nāh)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 1129: To build

is like a moth’s cocoon,
כָעָ֣שׁ (ḵā·‘āš)
Preposition-k, Article | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 6211: A moth

like a hut
וּ֝כְסֻכָּ֗ה (ū·ḵə·suk·kāh)
Conjunctive waw, Preposition-k | Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 5521: A thicket, booth

set up
עָשָׂ֥ה (‘ā·śāh)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 6213: To do, make

by a watchman.
נֹצֵֽר׃ (nō·ṣêr)
Verb - Qal - Participle - masculine singular
Strong's 5341: To watch, guard, keep


Links
Job 27:18 NIV
Job 27:18 NLT
Job 27:18 ESV
Job 27:18 NASB
Job 27:18 KJV

Job 27:18 BibleApps.com
Job 27:18 Biblia Paralela
Job 27:18 Chinese Bible
Job 27:18 French Bible
Job 27:18 Catholic Bible

OT Poetry: Job 27:18 He builds his house as the moth (Jb)
Job 27:17
Top of Page
Top of Page