Job 21:32 - Clarke's commentary and critical notes on the Bible

Bible Comments

Yet shall he be brought to the grave, and shall remain in the tomb. Yet shall he be brought to the grave - He shall die like other men; and the corruption of the grave shall prey upon him. Mr. Carlyle, in his specimens of Arabic poetry, Translations, p. 16, quotes this verse, which he translates and paraphrases, והוא לקברות יובל "He shall be brought to the grave," ועל גדוש ישקוד And shall watch upon the high-raised heap." It was the opinion of the pagan Arabs, that upon the death of any person, a bird, by them called Manah, issued from the brain, and haunted the sepulcher of the deceased, uttering a lamentable scream.

This notion, he adds, is evidently alluded to in Job 21:32. Thus Abusahel, on the death of his mistress: -

"If her ghost's funereal screech

Through the earth my grave should reach,

On that voice I loved so well

My transported ghost would dwell."

Job 21:32

32 Yet shall he be brought to the grave,i and shall remain in the tomb.