Verse 16
16. They Better, It shall go down to the bars of sheol. The verb is not plural, but a poetical form of the singular. Its subject is, the hope of renewed prosperity with which Job’s friends had flattered him. Bars is preferable to solitudes, as rendered by Furst and Schnurrer, and is used figuratively for the gates of sheol; (Job 38:17; Psalms 9:13; Psalms 107:18; Isaiah 38:10.) The shadowy bars kept the gates, so that those who entered could not return. The Iliad (23:74) calls sheol “the house of wide gates,” whose width pointed to the multitudes who were constantly entering.
Rest… in the dust Literally, when together there is rest in the dust. Furst would render Rest “descent,” with the meaning, “Yea, we shall descend together into the dust;” that is, my hope and I shall be buried together. Among the many proposed readings of this clause, that of the Authorized Version is to be preferred.
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