The Meaning of Job 5:26 Explained

Job 5:26

KJV: Thou shalt come to thy grave in a full age, like as a shock of corn cometh in in his season.

YLT: Thou comest in full age unto the grave, As the going up of a stalk in its season.

Darby: Thou shalt come to the grave in a ripe age, as a shock of corn is brought in in its season.

ASV: Thou shalt come to thy grave in a full age, Like as a shock of grain cometh in in its season.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

Thou shalt come  to [thy] grave  in a full age,  like as a shock of corn  cometh in  in his season. 

What does Job 5:26 Mean?

Context Summary

Job 5:1-27 - The Benefits Of Chastisement
In this chapter Eliphaz closes his first speech. He had already suggested that Job's sufferings were the result of some secret sin. It could not be otherwise according to his philosophy. Affliction and trouble did not come by chance. It was as much a law of nature, so Eliphaz thought, for calamity to follow sin as for sparks to fly upward. However deeply evil men had rooted themselves, they were doomed to be destroyed. Was it not obvious that Job had in some way offended? Let him confess and be restored!
The ideal life which will ensue on a genuine repentance is described in the most thrilling and glowing terms, Job 5:8-17. Each sentence is a priceless jewel, and each has been tested by generations of returning prodigals, for whom each promise has been countersigned by the "Yea" of Christ, 2 Corinthians 1:20. Paul quotes Job 5:13 in 1 Corinthians 3:19. [source]

Chapter Summary: Job 5

1  Eliphaz shows that the end of the wicked is misery;
6  that man is born to trouble;
8  that God is to be regarded in affliction;
17  the happy end of God's correction

What do the individual words in Job 5:26 mean?

You shall come at a full age to the grave as ripens a sheaf of grain in its season
תָּב֣וֹא בְכֶ֣לַח אֱלֵי־ קָ֑בֶר כַּעֲל֖וֹת גָּדִ֣ישׁ בְּעִתּֽוֹ

תָּב֣וֹא  You  shall  come 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Imperfect, second person masculine singular
Root: בֹּוא 
Sense: to go in, enter, come, go, come in.
בְכֶ֣לַח  at  a  full  age 
Parse: Preposition-b, Noun, masculine singular
Root: כֶּלַח  
Sense: full strength, firm or rugged strength, vigour.
קָ֑בֶר  the  grave 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular
Root: קֶבֶר  
Sense: grave, sepulchre, tomb.
כַּעֲל֖וֹת  as  ripens 
Parse: Preposition-k, Verb, Qal, Infinitive construct
Root: סָלַק 
Sense: to go up, ascend, climb.
גָּדִ֣ישׁ  a  sheaf  of  grain 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular
Root: גָּדִישׁ 
Sense: heap, stack, pile.
בְּעִתּֽוֹ  in  its  season 
Parse: Preposition-b, Noun, common singular construct, third person masculine singular
Root: עֵת  
Sense: time.