Job 23:17
in Job 23Yet I am not silenced by the darkness, by the thick darkness that covers my face.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Because I was not cut off before the darkness, Neither did he cover the thick darkness from my face.
KJV
Because I was not cut off before the darkness, neither hath he covered the darkness from my face.
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This verse in Job 23
Commentary
10 notes on this verseBecause I have not perished on account of the overhanging darkness; neither hath the darkness covered my face. For he, being set under the scourge, dies off from the health of the body 'on account of the overhanging darkness,' who is for this reason smitten for the past that he may be shielded from future punishments. For scourges inflicted on the good either wipe out evil things done, or parry off future ones which might have been done.
This site's exposition
Therefore I am terrified in His presence
on Job 23:15-17
The confidence of verse 10 gives way. Dread returns: "Therefore I am terrified in His presence; when I consider this, I fear Him", and "the Almighty has terrified me". Gill notes the shape of the chapter, a peak of confidence, closing in the same fear it opened with.
This site's exposition
Yet I am not silenced by the darkness
Jamieson, Fausset and Brown follow Umbreit and read silenced, as the Berean does. They hear in the thick darkness the darkness Eliphaz threatened at Job 22:11. God has terrified Job in verse 16, yet the darkness that covers his face leaves his mouth open.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
This unexpected disaster, he says, did not happen according to human logic. I discern that this blow comes from the hand of God. And he is right in speaking of the darkness that "covers my face," because this darkness is not ordinary darkness but is of his own dejection.
The Medieval Church1 voice
He then shows why he fears the future, although he is not conscious of guilt on his part, saying, "For I have not perished," i.e. I have endured adversity, "because of the darkness hemming me in," the errors and the sins which are said to …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Because I was not cut off before the darkness,....
This may help to reconcile us to death, whenever it comes, that we do not know what evil we may be taken away from. But when trouble comes it is folly to wish we had not lived to see it and it is better to make the best of it. (2.) Because he was left to live so long in his troubles, and the darkness was not covered from his face by his being hidden in the grave.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Because I was not cut off before the darkness - Before these calamities came upon me. Because I was not taken away in the midst of prosperity, and while I was enjoying his smiles and the proofs of his love. His trouble is, that he was spared to pass through these trials, and to be treated as if he were one of the worst of men. This is what now perplexes him, and what he cannot understand. He does not know why God had reserved him to treat him as if he were the chief of sinners.
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Because I was not taken away by death from the evil to come (literally, "from before the face of the darkness," Isa 57:1). Alluding to the words of Eliphaz (Job 22:11), "darkness," that is, calamity. cut off--rather, in the Arabic sense, brought to the land of silence; my sad complaint hushed in death [UMBREIT].
Because I was not cut off - “O, why can I not draw darkness over my face? Why may not thick darkness cover my face?” Mr. Good. This verse should be read in connection with the preceding; and then we shall have the following sense. Job 23:16 : “The Lord hath beaten down my strength, and my soul has been terrified by his fear.” Job 23:17 : “For it is not this deep night in which I am enveloped, nor the evils which I suffer, that have overwhelmed me; I sink only through the fear which the presence of his Majesty inspires. This is my greatest affliction; sufferings, diseases, yea, death itself, are nothing in comparison of the terror which my soul feels in the presence of his tremendous holiness and justice.” Nothing can humble a pious mind so much as Scriptural apprehensions of the majesty of God. It is easy to contemplate his goodness, loving-kindness, and mercy; in all these we have an interest, and from them we expect the greatest good: but to consider his holiness and justice, the infinite righteousness of his nature, under the conviction that we have sinned, and broken the laws prescribed by his sovereign Majesty, and to feel ourselves brought as into the presence of his judgment-seat, - who can bear the thought? If cherubim and seraphim veil their faces before his throne, and the holiest soul exclaims, I loathe myself when God I see, And into nothing fall; what must a sinner feel, whose conscience is not yet purged from dead works and who feels the wrath of God abiding on him? And how without such a mediator and sacrifice as Jesus Christ is, can any human spirit come into the presence of its Judge? Those who can approach him without terror, know little of his justice and nothing of their sin. When we approach him in prayer, or in any ordinance, should we not feel more reverence than we generally do?
The words behind it
8 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כִּֽי־ | ki- | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| לֹ֣א | lo' | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| נִ֭צְמַתִּי | nitzmati | I have been destroyed | H6789 → | |
| מִפְּנֵי־ | mipenei- | from before | H6440 → | 2123 times |
| חֹ֑שֶׁךְ | choshekh | darkness | H2822 → | 80 times |
| וּ֝מִפָּנַ֗י | umipanai | and from before me | H6440 → | 2123 times |
| כִּסָּה־ | kisah- | it covers | H3680 → | 152 times |
| אֹֽפֶל׃ | ʾofel | gloom | H652 → | 9 times |
כִּֽי־for
ki-H3588 →4482 times
לֹ֣אnot
lo'H3808 →5168 times
נִ֭צְמַתִּיI have been destroyed
nitzmatiH6789 →
מִפְּנֵי־from before
mipenei-H6440 →2123 times
חֹ֑שֶׁךְdarkness
choshekhH2822 →80 times
וּ֝מִפָּנַ֗יand from before me
umipanaiH6440 →2123 times
כִּסָּה־it covers
kisah-H3680 →152 times
אֹֽפֶל׃gloom
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
Isaiah 57:1The righteous perish, and no one takes it to heart; devout men are swept away, while no one considers that the righteous are guided from the presence of evil.
it leads to
- 2 Kings 22:20
‘Therefore I will indeed gather you to your fathers, and you will be gathered to your grave in peace. Your eyes will not see all the calamity that I will bring on this place.’”…
- 2 Chronicles 34:28
‘Now I will indeed gather you to your fathers, and you will be gathered to your grave in peace. Your eyes will not see all the calamity that I will bring on this place…
- Psalms 12:1
Help, O LORD, for the godly are no more; the faithful have vanished from among men.
- Micah 7:2
The godly man has perished from the earth; there is no one upright among men. They all lie in wait for blood; they hunt one another with a net.
- Isaiah 42:25
So He poured out on them His furious anger and the fierceness of battle. It enveloped them in flames, but they did not understand; it consumed them, but they did not take it to…
- 2 Kings 22:20
Through
2 Kings 22:20‘Therefore I will indeed gather you to your fathers, and you will be gathered to your grave in peace. Your eyes will not see all the calamity that I will bring on this place.’”…
it leads to
- Psalms 37:37
Consider the blameless and observe the upright, for posterity awaits the man of peace.
- Psalms 37:37
Through
Job 19:8He has blocked my way so I cannot pass; He has veiled my paths with darkness.
it leads to
- Lamentations 3:7
He has walled me in so I cannot escape; He has weighed me down with chains.
- Job 3:23
Why is life given to a man whose way is hidden, whom God has hedged in?
- Lamentations 3:7
Where this verse is studied
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 XVI; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Chrysostom, COMMENTARY ON JOB 23:16-17; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.