Job 10:22
in Job 10to a land of utter darkness, of deep shadow and disorder, where even the light is like darkness.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
The land dark as midnight, The land of the shadow of death, without any order, And where the light is as midnight.
KJV
A land of darkness, as darkness itself; and of the shadow of death, without any order, and where the light is as darkness.
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This verse in Job 10
Commentary
11 notes on this verseWhere the light is as darkness - A palpable obscure: it is space and place, and has only such light or capability of distinction as renders “darkness visible.” The following words of Sophocles convey the same idea: Ιω σκοτος εμοι φαος; “Thou darkness be my light.” It is, as the Vulgate expresses it, Terra tenebrosa, et operta mortis caligine: Terra miseriae et tenebrarum, ubi umbra mortis, et nullus ordo, sed sempiternus horror inhabitat: “A murky land, covered with the thick darkness of death: a land of wretchedness and obscurities, where is the shadow of death, and no order, but sempiternal horror dwells everywhere.” Or, as Coverdale expresses this last clause, Wheras is no ordre but terrible feare as in the darknesse.
This site's exposition
Are my days not few
on Job 10:20-22
"Withdraw from me, that I may have a little comfort" asks a small mercy before an end Job assumes is near and final. He pictures "a land of utter darkness, of deep shadow and disorder, where even the light is like darkness," death as he understands it.
This site's exposition
where even the light is like darkness
Jamieson, Fausset and Brown count three Hebrew words for darkness in verses 21 and 22, each deeper than the last. Barnes traces the second to a root meaning to cover, as with wings. In that land even the light is gloom and disorder.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
Although the brave one was in pain, he talked about the coming age. So he says—not to deny the resurrection—"Before I go from where I will not return." Job calls the land "a land of gloom and deep darkness, where light is like darkness," since …
The Medieval Church2 voices
This too can be explained in two ways. In one way it can be interpreted to express the hell (infernus) to which the souls of all men, even the souls of the just before Christ, descended. Although the just did not suffer sensible pains there, …
A land of misery and darkness. 'Misery' has relation to pain, 'darkness' relates to blindness. That land then which holds all those that are banished the presence of the strict Judge, is entitled 'a land of misery and darkness,' for pain without torments those, whom blindness darkens within, severed from the true Light. Not but that 'the land of misery and darkness' may be understood in another sense also.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Secondly, That there is no light there. In the grave there is thick darkness, darkness that cannot be felt indeed, yet cannot but be feared by those that enjoy the light of life. In the grave there is no knowledge, no comfort, no joy, no praising God, no working out our salvation, and therefore no light.
3 Is it good unto thee that thou shouldest oppress, that thou shouldest despise the work of thine hands, and shine upon the counsel of the wicked? 4 Hast thou eyes of flesh? or seest thou as man seeth? 5 Are thy days as the days of man? are thy years as man's days, 6 That thou enquirest after mine iniquity, and searchest after my sin?
quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — verbatim-scripture
3 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
A land of darkness, as darkness itself,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Three Hebrew words are used for darkness; in Job 10:21 (1) the common word "darkness"; here (2) "a land of gloom" (from a Hebrew root, "to cover up"); (3) as "thick darkness" or blackness (from a root, expressing sunset). "Where the light thereof is like blackness." Its only sunshine is thick darkness.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
A land of darkness - The word used here (עיפה ‛êyphâh) is different from that rendered “darkness” השׁך chôshek in the previous verse. That is the common word to denote darkness; this seldom occurs. It is derived from עוּף ‛ûph, to fly; and then to cover as with wings; and hence, the noun means that which is shaded or dark; Amo 4:13; compare Job 17:13; Isa 8:22; Isa 9:1. As darkness itself - This is still another word אפל 'ôphel though in our common version but one term is used. We have not the means in our language of marking different degrees of obscurity with the accuracy with which the Hebrews did it. The word used here אפל 'ôphel denotes a THICK darkness - such as exists when the sun is set - from אפל 'aphêl, to go down, to set. It is poetic, and is used to denote intense and deep darkness; see Job 3:6. And of the shadow of death - I would prefer reading this as connected with the previous word - “the deep darkness of the shadow of death.” The Hebrew will bear this, and indeed it is the obvious construction. Without any order - The word rendered order (סדרים sedārı̂ym) is in the plural. It is from סדר, obsolete, to place in a row or order, to arrange. The meaning is, that everything was mingled together as in chaos, and all was confusion. Milton has used similar language: - “A vast immeasurable abyss.” - “dark, wasteful, wild.” Ovid uses similar language in speaking of chaos: “Unus chaos, rudis indigestaque moles.” And where the light is as darkness - This is a very striking and graphic expression. It means that there is no pure and clear light. Even all the light that shines there is dark, sombre, gloomy - like the little light of a total eclipse, which seems to be darkness itself, and which only serves to render the darkness more distressing. […]
The words behind it
10 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אֶ֤רֶץ | ʾeretz | [the] land of | H776 → | 2504 times |
| עֵיפָ֨תָה׀ | ʾeifatah | darkness | H5890 → | |
| כְּמ֥וֹ | kemo | like | H3644 → | 143 times |
| אֹ֗פֶל | ʾofel | gloom of | H652 → | 9 times |
| צַ֭לְמָוֶת | tzalmavet | deep darkness | H6757 → | 18 times |
| וְלֹ֥א | velo' | and not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| סְדָרִ֗ים | sedarim | order<s> | H5468 → | |
| וַתֹּ֥פַע | vatofa' | and it shone forth | H3313 → | 8 times |
| כְּמוֹ־ | kemov- | like | H3644 → | 143 times |
| אֹֽפֶל׃ פ | ʾofel | gloom | H652 → | 9 times |
אֶ֤רֶץ[the] land of
ʾeretzH776 →2504 times
עֵיפָ֨תָה׀darkness
ʾeifatahH5890 →
כְּמ֥וֹlike
kemoH3644 →143 times
אֹ֗פֶלgloom of
ʾofelH652 →9 times
צַ֭לְמָוֶתdeep darkness
tzalmavetH6757 →18 times
וְלֹ֥אand not
velo'H3808 →5168 times
סְדָרִ֗יםorder<s>
sedarimH5468 →
וַתֹּ֥פַעand it shone forth
vatofa'H3313 →8 times
כְּמוֹ־like
kemov-H3644 →143 times
אֹֽפֶל׃ פgloom
ʾofelH652 →9 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Job 34:22There is no darkness or deep shadow where the workers of iniquity can hide.
it leads to
- Hebrews 4:13
Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight; everything is uncovered and exposed before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.
- Amos 9:2–3
Though they dig down to Sheol, from there My hand will take them; and though they climb up to heaven, from there I will pull them down.
- Proverbs 10:29
The way of the LORD is a refuge to the upright, but destruction awaits those who do evil.
- Hebrews 4:13
Through
Psalms 88:12Will Your wonders be known in the darkness, or Your righteousness in the land of oblivion?
it leads to
- Ecclesiastes 9:5
For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing. They have no further reward, because the memory of them is forgotten.
- Ecclesiastes 9:5
Through
Jeremiah 2:6They did not ask, ‘Where is the LORD who brought us up from the land of Egypt, who led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and pits, a land of drought…
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 32:10
He found him in a desert land, in a barren, howling wilderness; He surrounded him, He instructed him, He guarded him as the apple of His eye.
- Deuteronomy 32:10
Through
Job 38:17Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Have you seen the gates of the shadow of death?
it leads to
- Psalms 9:13
Be merciful to me, O LORD; see how my enemies afflict me! Lift me up from the gates of death,
- Psalms 107:18
They loathed all food and drew near to the gates of death.
- Psalms 9:13
Through
Luke 16:26And besides all this, a great chasm has been fixed between us and you, so that even those who wish cannot cross from here to you, nor can anyone cross from there to us.’
it leads to
- John 3:36
Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life. Whoever rejects the Son will not see life. Instead, the wrath of God remains on him.”
- John 3:36
About Job
This page draws on 11 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on A. B. Davidson, The Book of Job, Cambridge Bible; Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Didymus the Blind, COMMENTARY ON JOB 10:18-22; Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Book of Job; Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book IX; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.