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Job 27:13-15
He states the allotted outcome for the wicked, describing how their children and survivors meet violence, hunger, and unmarked death.
Meaning in context
He states the allotted outcome for the wicked, describing how their children and survivors meet violence, hunger, and unmarked death.
Section 4 of 6
The Wicked Lose Family and Security
He states the allotted outcome for the wicked, describing how their children and survivors meet violence, hunger, and unmarked death.
Movement
Suffering before the living God
Artifact
Wisdom debate and divine answer
Biblical Timeline
Patriarchs
Job context: 2000 BC - 1500 BC
Biblical Timeline
Patriarchs
Job context
Patriarchs / 2000 BC - 1500 BC
Job context is set in the patriarchs, where Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and the covenant family.
Scripture Text
Thesis
He states the allotted outcome for the wicked, describing how their children and survivors meet violence, hunger, and unmarked death.
Verse by Verse
A declared “portion” from God Job announces a fixed outcome he associates with a wicked man: a “portion” and “heritage” that comes “with God” and “from the Almighty.” The point is not merely what people do to the wicked, but what their life yields under God’s oversight.
Many children become exposure to violence and hunger Job counters the idea that increasing descendants guarantees future security. If the wicked man’s children multiply, Job says they are “for the sword,” and his offspring will not have enough bread—growth does not prevent loss.
Survivors end without honor, and widows do not mourn Those left from the man are “buried in death,” a blunt way of saying death overtakes even the remainder. The final image intensifies the social loss: the widows offer no lament, implying the normal rites of grief and public honor fail to appear (contrast the expected shall weep).
Literary Context
These lines sit inside Job’s continued speech in the dialogue section of the book. In this part of Job’s reply, he speaks with a firm, settled tone about the fate of the wicked, sounding closer to the kind of moral summary his friends often offered, yet presented as his own declaration (see Job 27:1). Verses 13–15 begin a sequence describing outcomes that strip away what normally signals success: heirs, food security, burial, and public mourning. The logic moves from a headline (“this is the portion”) to examples that picture social collapse.
Historical Context
Job’s world is portrayed like an early, clan-based society where family size, food supply, and honorable burial were major indicators of stability and honor. Violence is imagined in terms of the “sword,” a common image for warfare, raids, or lethal force that could wipe out households and leave women widowed. Bread represents basic survival, not luxury. Burial and public lament were key social acts; being buried without mourning suggests isolation, shame, or community breakdown. The language reflects wisdom-style observation about life outcomes, framed within Job’s larger dispute about suffering and justice.
Theological Significance
Questions
Keep Studying
Job 27:13–15 presents a tight claim: the “portion” (what a person ends up with) of the wicked and oppressors is assigned “with God” and “from the Almighty.” The passage then spells out what that portion looks like in family and social terms: children do not guarantee security; violence and hunger undo the household; the remaining people associated with him end without honor or normal public grief.
The explicit focus is not on the wicked man’s inner feelings but on visible outcomes—heirs, food, burial, and lament—things that signaled stability in Job’s world.
Does “with God” mean approval? Some read “with God / from the Almighty” as emphasizing that this outcome is under God’s rule (God’s oversight and ordering), not that God endorses the person. Others hear a sharper edge: God is the one actively assigning this “portion” as punishment.
How literal is “for the sword”? Some take “sword” as fairly concrete (war, raids, killing). Others take it as a poetic way to say “they will meet violent ends,” without tying it to a specific event.
What does “buried in death” mean? Some understand it as “death itself buries them”—they are swept away with no dignified burial. Others think it simply intensifies the fact of death: even those who survive longer still end up overtaken by death.
Why don’t the widows weep? Suggestions include shame attached to the household, fear or oppression continuing even after his death, social isolation, or simply a picture of so many deaths that normal mourning rites collapse.
Why the disagreement exists The lines are brief poetry with compressed images (“with God,” “for the sword,” “buried in death”). The text gives outcomes but not the step-by-step mechanism, so interpreters differ on how directly God’s action is being described versus God’s governance of life outcomes.
What this passage clearly contributes Job ties the fate of oppressors to family and community breakdown, not just personal loss. The text explicitly denies that multiplying descendants guarantees lasting security (even a large family can become exposed to violence and hunger). It also stresses the loss of honor and social memory: the end can include death without proper burial and grief, as if the person’s household and name fade rather than being upheld. See also Job 21:7–13 for Job’s broader tension about how consistently such outcomes appear in real life.
children (ḇā·nāw)