Job 20:26
in Job 20Total darkness is reserved for his treasures. A fire unfanned will consume him and devour what is left in his tent.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
All darkness is laid up for his treasures: A fire not blown by man shall devour him; It shall consume that which is left in his tent.
KJV
All darkness shall be hid in his secret places: a fire not blown shall consume him; it shall go ill with him that is left in his tabernacle.
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This verse in Job 20
Commentary
10 notes on this verseA fire not blown shall consume him - As Zophar is here showing that the wicked cannot escape from the Divine judgments; so he points out the different instruments which God employs for their destruction. The wrath of God - any secret or supernatural curse. The iron weapon - the spear or such like. The bow, and its swift-flying arrow. Darkness - deep horror and perplexity.
This site's exposition
Total darkness is reserved for his treasures
on Job 20:26-29
The speech closes with "A fire unfanned". The last line, "This is the wicked man’s portion from God", presents the catalogue as one doctrine, and Job is never named in it. Watson notes that this is Zophar's last speech, since he takes no turn in the friends' third round.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church2 voices
Next he places the pain of loss when he says, "Utter darkness has invaded his hidden places," because he will suffer perfect interior and exterior darkness, far from the brightness of God. He says this darkness is in secret for as the brightness of the …
Ver. 26. All darkness is hid in his secret places. 34. For though the hypocrite exhibits good actions on the surface, yet a certain 'darkness' of evil deeds appears in him; yet it less comes forth in act, than lies buried in his secret thought. For he who does not fulfil all things at once in execution, does in his heart in silence hold all things that may do mischief.
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
The darkness he is wrapped up in is a hidden darkness: it is all darkness, utter darkness, without the least mixture of light, and it is hid in his secret place, whither he has retreated and where he hopes to shelter himself; he never retires into his own conscience but he finds himself in the dark and utterly at a loss.
4 Knowest thou not this of old, since man was placed upon earth, 5 That the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment? 6 Though his excellency mount up to the heavens, and his head reach unto the clouds; 7 Yet he shall perish for ever like his own dung: they which have seen him shall say, Where is he?
quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — verbatim-scripture
Hid - Or, laid up; by God for him. It is reserved and treasured up for him, and shall infallibly overtake him. Secret - In those places where he confidently hopes to hide himself from all evil: even there God shall find him out.
3 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
All darkness shall be hid in his secret places,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Tact is shown by the friends in not expressly mentioning, but alluding under color of general cases, to Job's calamities; here (Job 1:16) UMBREIT explains it, wickedness, is a "self-igniting fire"; in it lie the principles of destruction. ill . . . tabernacle--Every trace of the sinner must be obliterated (Job 18:15).
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
All darkness shall be hid in his secret places - The word “darkness” here, as is common, means evidently calamity. The phrase “is hid,” means is treasured up for him. The phrase “in his secret places,” may mean “for his treasures,” or instead of the great treasures which he had laid up for himself. The Apostle Paul has a similar expression, in which, perhaps, he makes an allusion to this place. Rom 2:5, “but, after thy hardness and impenitent heart, treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath.” Treasures formerly were laid up in secret places, or places of darkness, that were regarded as inaccessible; see the notes at Isa 45:3. A fire not blown - A fire unkindled. Probably the meaning is, a fire that man has not kindled, or that is of heavenly origin. The language is such as would convey the idea of being consumed by lightning, and probably Zophar intended to refer to such calamities as had come upon the family of Job, Job 1:16. There is much “tact” in this speech of Zophar, and in the discourses of his friends on this point. They never, I believe, refer expressly to the calamities that had come upon Job and his family. They never in so many words say, that those calamities were proof of the wrath of heaven. But they go on to mention a great many similar “cases” in the abstract; to prove that the wicked would be destroyed in that manner; that when such calamities came upon people, it was proof that they were wicked, and they leave Job himself to make the application. The allusion, as in this case, was too broad to be misunderstood, and Job was not slow in regarding it as intended for himself. Prof Lee (“in loc.”) supposes that there may be an allusion here to the “fire that shall not be quenched,” or to the future punishment of the wicked. […]
The words behind it
11 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כָּל־ | kol- | all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| חֹשֶׁךְ֮ | choshekh | darkness | H2822 → | 80 times |
| טָמ֪וּן | tamun | [is] hidden | H2934 → | 31 times |
| לִצְפּ֫וּנָ֥יו | litzpunav | for treasured [things] his | H6845 → | 32 times |
| תְּ֭אָכְלֵהוּ | teakhelehu | it will consume him | H398 → | 810 times |
| אֵ֣שׁ | ʾesh | fire | H784 → | 378 times |
| לֹֽא־ | lo'- | [which] not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| נֻפָּ֑ח | nupach | it has been fanned | H5301 → | 12 times |
| יֵ֖רַע | yera' | it will be evil | H7489 → | 107 times |
| שָׂרִ֣יד | sarid | a survivor | H8300 → | 28 times |
| בְּאָהֳלֽוֹ׃ | beoholo | in tent his | H168 → | 345 times |
כָּל־all
kol-H3605 →5413 times
חֹשֶׁךְ֮darkness
choshekhH2822 →80 times
טָמ֪וּן[is] hidden
tamunH2934 →31 times
לִצְפּ֫וּנָ֥יוfor treasured [things] his
litzpunavH6845 →32 times
תְּ֭אָכְלֵהוּit will consume him
teakhelehuH398 →810 times
אֵ֣שׁfire
ʾeshH784 →378 times
לֹֽא־[which] not
lo'-H3808 →5168 times
נֻפָּ֑חit has been fanned
nupachH5301 →12 times
יֵ֖רַעit will be evil
yera'H7489 →107 times
שָׂרִ֣ידa survivor
saridH8300 →28 times
בְּאָהֳלֽוֹ׃in tent his
beoholoH168 →345 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
Psalms 21:9You will place them in a fiery furnace at the time of Your appearing. In His wrath the LORD will engulf them, and the fire will consume them.
it leads to
- Malachi 4:1
“For behold, the day is coming, burning like a furnace, when all the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble; the day is coming when I will set them ablaze,” says the LORD of…
- Psalms 50:3
Our God approaches and will not be silent! Consuming fire precedes Him, and a tempest rages around Him.
- Psalms 18:8
Smoke rose from His nostrils, and consuming fire came from His mouth; glowing coals blazed forth.
- Lamentations 2:2
Without pity the Lord has swallowed up all the dwellings of Jacob. In His wrath He has demolished the fortified cities of the Daughter of Judah. He brought to the ground and defiled her…
- 2 Thessalonians 1:8
in blazing fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.
- Malachi 4:1
Through
Jude 1:13They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame; wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever.
it leads to
- 2 Peter 2:17
These men are springs without water and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them.
- Philippians 3:19
Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and their glory is in their shame. Their minds are set on earthly things.
- Isaiah 57:20
But the wicked are like the storm-tossed sea, for it cannot be still, and its waves churn up mire and muck.
- 2 Peter 2:17
About Job
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book XV; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; R. A. Watson, The Book of Job, Expositor's Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.