Verse Lens · Concise explanation
Job 25:6 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 6. 6How much less man, that is a worm? and the son of man, which is a worm?
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
Job 25:6 closes the thought unit with the words “How much less man, that is a worm? and the son of man, which is a worm?.” Bildad presses the unit's question through “How much less man, that is a worm? and the son of man, which is a worm?”, a line that belongs to Bildad's Final Speech Stresses Human Smallness.
Read It With
- Job 25:1–25:6
Read Job 25:6 with 25:1–25:6. Read alone, “How much less man, that is a worm? and the son of man, which is a worm?” could lose its speaker, the question or claim it develops, and the unit's outcome. The complete movement establishes: Bildad praises divine dominion and peace and contrasts God's purity with mortal impurity through moon, stars, worm, and maggot imagery.
Why This Verse Appears Here
Bildad answers or redirects the movement in Job 24:18–24:25: The difficult final lines speak of swift disappearance, Sheol, forgotten persons, broken trees, barren and widowed victims, and delayed but eventual cutting down. The change of speaker controls how Job 25:1–25:6 must be evaluated. Within that relationship, Job 25:6 closes the thought unit through “How much less man, that is a worm? and the son of man, which is a worm?.”
Read Job 25:1–6 together
Why these verses belong together: Job 25:1–25:6 follows the pinned KJV paragraphing and holds together one sustained speech movement: “Bildad's Final Speech Stresses Human Smallness.” The next unit begins with a new stanza, question sequence, scene, speaker response, or rhetorical turn.
Verse 1. 1 Then answered Bildad the Shuhite, and said,
Verse 2. 2 Dominion and fear are with him, he maketh peace in his high places.
Verse 3. 3 Is there any number of his armies? and upon whom doth not his light arise?
Verse 4. 4 How then can man be justified with God? or how can he be clean that is born of a woman?
Verse 5. 5 Behold even to the moon, and it shineth not; yea, the stars are not pure in his sight.
Verse 6. 6 How much less man, that is a worm? and the son of man, which is a worm?
What Remains True
Bildad praises divine dominion and peace and contrasts God's purity with mortal impurity through moon, stars, worm, and maggot imagery. Suffering or outward outcome is not evidence enough to diagnose guilt, hidden sin, divine rejection, or another person's moral standing. Job 25:6 carries that bounded truth through “How much less man, that is a worm? and the son of man, which is a worm?.”
How It Can Shape Life
- When hardship invites a moral theory, use Job 25:1–25:6 to separate observed facts from accusation, test claims against the prose frame and final verdict, and refuse to infer hidden guilt from suffering. Preserve this unit-specific boundary in the action: Creaturely smallness does not answer Job's justice case or establish that suffering proves guilt; demeaning imagery must not become a rationale for abuse. The verse-specific evidence to retain is “How much less man, that is a worm? and the son of man, which is a worm?.”
Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Job 25:1–25:6 — Bildad's Final Speech Stresses Human SmallnessSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? strong
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete thought-unit coverage.
Exact location: Job 25:1–25:6, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Job
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology checked at the exact unit without treating morphology as a complete apparatus or interpretation.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Job.xml, OSIS 25:1–25:6
Open the fixed Hebrew Job file ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible First Edition Notes: Job
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006; current official PDF
Supports: Verse-level controls for Job's difficult Hebrew, syntax, older KJV language, textual issues, speech boundaries, and alternatives in Job 25:1–25:6.
Exact location: Official NET Job PDF, exact translator, study, and textual notes attached to Job 25:1–25:6
Open the official NET Job PDF ↗