a head person (of any rank or class) · noun, common masculine plural absolute
gold
זָהָ֣בza.Hav
H2091
gold · noun, common masculine singular absolute
filled
הַֽמְמַלְאִ֖יםha.mal.'Im
H4390
to fill or (intransitively) be full of · definite article + verb, piel active participle, masculine plural absolute
houses
בָּתֵּיהֶ֣םba.tei.Hem
H1004
a house (in the greatest variation of applications · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
silver
כָּֽסֶףKa.sef
H3701
silver (from its pale color) · noun, common masculine singular absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
1 Kings 10:27 And the king made silver to be in Jerusalem as stones, and cedars made he to be as the sycomore trees that are in the vale, for abundance.
Job 22:25 Yea, the Almighty shall be thy defence, and thou shalt have plenty of silver.
Zephaniah 1:18 Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD’s wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by th…
Numbers 22:18 And Balaam answered and said unto the servants of Balak, If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the wo…
Job 12:21 He poureth contempt upon princes, and weakeneth the strength of the mighty.
Job 27:16-17 Though he heap up silver as the dust, and prepare raiment as the clay;
Isaiah 2:7 Their land also is full of silver and gold, neither is there any end of their treasures; their land is also full of horses, neither is there…
Zechariah 9:3 And Tyrus did build herself a strong hold, and heaped up silver as the dust, and fine gold as the mire of the streets.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Job 3:11-19
Job, perhaps reflecting upon himself for his folly in wishing he had never been born, follows it, and thinks to mend it, with another, little better, that he had died as soon as he was born, which he enlarges upon in these verses. When our Saviour would set forth a very calamitous state of things he seems to allow such a saying as this, Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the paps which never gave suck (Luk 23:29); but blessing the barren womb is one thing and cursing the fruitful womb is another! It is good to make the best of afflictions, but it is not good to make the worst of mercies. Our rule is, Bless, and curse not. Life is often put for all good, and death for…
filled their houses with silver--Some take this to refer to the treasures which the ancients used to bury with their dead. But see Job 3:26.
John Gill on Job 3:15
Or with princes that had gold,.... A large abundance of it while they lived, but now, being dead, were no longer in the possession of it, but on a level with those that had none; nor could their gold, while they had it, preserve them from death, and now, being dead, it was no longer theirs, nor of any use unto them; these princes, by this description of them, seem to be such who had not the dominion over any particular place or country, but their riches lay in gold and silver, as follows:
who filled their houses with silver; had an abundance of it, either in their coffers, which they hoarded up, or in the furniture of their houses, which were much of it of silver; they had large quantities…
13 So should I now have lain and had quiet,
I should have slept, then it would have been well with me,
14 With kings and councillors of the earth,
Who built ruins for themselves,
15 Or with princes possessing gold,
Who filled their houses with silver:
16 Or like a hidden untimely birth I had not been,
And as children that have never seen the light.
The perf. and interchanging fut. have the signification of oriental imperfecta conjunctivi, according to Ges. 126, 5; עתּה כּי is the usual expression after hypothetical clauses, and takes the perf. if the preceding clause specifies a condition which has not occurred in the past (Gen 31:42; Gen 43:10; Num 22:29, Num 22:33; Sa1 14:30), the fut. if…
The Church Fathers
MORAL INTERPRETATION. Or with princes that have gold, who fill their houses with silver. Whom does he call princes, but the rulers of holy Church, whom the Divine economy substitutes without intermission in the room of their predecessors? Concerning these the Psalmist, speaking to the same Church, says, Instead of thy fathers thou hast children born to thee, whom thou mayest make princes in all lands. And what does he call gold, saving wisdom; of which Solomon saith, A treasure to be desired lieth at rest in the mouth of the wise? That is, he saw wisdom as gold, and therefore called it a treasure: and she is well designated by the name of 'gold,' for that, as temporal goods are purchased with gold, so are eternal blessings with wisdom. If wisdom had not been gold, it would never have been said by the Angel to the Church of Laodicea, I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire. For we 'buy ourselves gold,' when we pay obedience first, to get wisdom in exchange, and it is to this very bargain that a certain wise man rightly stimulates us, in these words, If thou desire wisdom, keep the commandments, and the Lord shall give her unto thee. And what is signified by the 'houses,' but our consciences? Hence it is said to one that was healed, Go unto thine house. As though he had heard in plain words, 'After the outward miracles, turn back into thine own conscience, and weigh well what kind of person within thou shouldest shew thyself before God.' And what too is represented by silver but the divine revelations, of which the Psalmist says, The words of the Lord are pure words, as silver tried in the fire? The word of the Lord is said to be like silver tried in the fire, because God's word, when it is fixed in the heart, is tried with afflictions. Let the holy man then, full of the Spirit of Eternity, both sum up the things that shall be, and gather together in the open bosom of his mind all those, whom ages long after should give birth to, and consider with wonder and astonishment those Elect souls, with whom he would be enjoying rest in life eternal without the weariness of labour, had none ever been led into sin by the passion of pride, and let him say, For now should I have lain still and been quiet; I should have slept; then had I been at rest with kings and counsellors of the earth, which built desolate places for themselves, or with princes that had…
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Brother · .mankind — .mankind
Dead (People) · UNCLASSIFIED SCRIPTURES RELATING TO — UNCLASSIFIED SCRIPTURES RELATING TO
Despondency · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Hatred · 5:19,20; — 5:19,20;
Homicide · 24:22; — 24:22;
Murmuring · Exemplified: Job — Exemplified: Job
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
rich in gold, whose palaces were filled with silver: This might refer to treasure-filled tombs, but it more likely refers to the futile hoarding of wealth that ends in death (as in 3:14).
Rashi on Job 3:14
who build ruins for themselves It is customary for those who seek fame to rebuild ruined cities as a memorial for themselves, as in (Isa. 58: 12), “And those coming from you shall be called the repairer of the breaches.” That is to say, with princes and famous people. Or, would that I was unknown, and I would be like a stillborn. What Scripture states: I was not like a hidden stillborn, is because it continues with the language with which it started to speak, viz. in the interrogative, and it refers to “Why did knees receive me...or why was I not like a hidden stillborn child?”
