the Second Week after Easter
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Contemporary English Version
Job 23:17
Bible Study Resources
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- InternationalParallel Translations
Yet I am not destroyed by the darkness,by the thick darkness that covers my face.
Because I was not cut off before the darkness, Neither did he cover the thick darkness from my face.
Because I was not cut off before the darkness, neither hath he covered the darkness from my face.
yet I am not silenced because of the darkness, nor because thick darkness covers my face.
But I am not hidden by the darkness, by the thick darkness that covers my face.
Yet I have not been silent because of the darkness, because of the thick darkness that covered my face.
But I am not silenced by the darkness [of these woes that fell on me], Nor by the thick darkness which covers my face.
But I am not destroyed by darkness, Nor by deep gloom which covers me.
Because I was not cut off before the darkness, Neither did he cover the thick darkness from my face.
For I am not cut off in darknesse, but he hath hid the darkenesse from my face.
But I am not silenced by the darkness,Nor thick darkness which covers me.
Yet I am not silenced by the darkness, by the thick darkness that covers my face.
Yet I am not cut off by the darkness; he has protected me from the deepest gloom.
Because I was not cut off before the darkness, neither hath he hidden the gloom from me.
What has happened to me is like a dark cloud over my face. But the darkness will not keep me quiet.
Because I was not silenced before the darkness, and before the covering of the blackness.
Indeed, I have not been silenced because of darkness, and because of me he conceals thick darkness.
In this I was not cut off by darkness; yea, He covered the thick darkness from my face.
Thus can not I get out of darcknesse, the cloude hath so couered my face.
Because I was not cut off before the darkness, Neither did he cover the thick darkness from my face.
For I am overcome by the dark, and by the black night which is covering my face.
Because I was not cut off before the darkness, neither did He cover the thick darkness from my face.
Because I was not cut off before the darknes, neither hath he couered the darknes from my face.
Because I am not cut of before the darkenesse, neither hath he couered the cloude fro my face.
For I knew not that darkness would come upon me, and thick darkness has covered me before my face.
Because I was not cut off before the darkness, neither did he cover the thick darkness from my face.
For Y perischide not for derknessis neiyynge; nethir myist hilide my face.
Because I was not cut off before the darkness, Neither did he cover the thick darkness from my face.
Because I was not cut off before the darkness, [neither] hath he covered the darkness from my face.
Because I was not cut off from the presence of darkness, And He did not hide deep darkness from my face.
Darkness is all around me; thick, impenetrable darkness is everywhere.
But I am not made quiet by the darkness or the deep shadow which covers my face.
If only I could vanish in darkness, and thick darkness would cover my face!
Because I was not cut off before the darkness, nor, before my face, did the gloom form a shroud.
For I have not perished because of the darkness that hangs over me, neither hath the mist covered my face.
for I am hemmed in by darkness, and thick darkness covers my face.
For I have not been cut off before darkness, And before me He covered thick darkness.
But I am not silenced by the darkness, Nor deep gloom which covers me.
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
cut off: Job 6:9, 2 Kings 22:20, Isaiah 57:1
the darkness from: Job 15:22, Job 18:6, Job 18:18, Job 19:8, Job 22:11
Reciprocal: Job 30:26 - light
Cross-References
Abraham bowed down
Ephron was sitting there near the city gate, when Abraham made this request, and he answered,
"But sir," the man replied, "the property is worth only four hundred pieces of silver. Why should we haggle over such a small amount? Take the land. It's yours."
he had bought from the Hittites.
His sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him east of Hebron in Machpelah Cave that was part of the field Abraham had bought from Ephron son of Zohar the Hittite. Abraham was buried there beside his wife Sarah.
They took him to Canaan and buried him in Machpelah Cave, the burial place Abraham had bought from Ephron the Hittite.
Life will go well for those who freely lend and are honest in business.
I am sending you like lambs into a pack of wolves. So be as wise as snakes and as innocent as doves.
Later their bodies were taken back to Shechem and placed in the tomb that Abraham had bought from the sons of Hamor.
Act like people with good sense and not like fools.
Gill's Notes on the Bible
Because I was not cut off before the darkness,.... That is, it was amazing to him, and troubled him when he thought of it, that he was not cut off by death, before the darkness of afflictions, or this dark dispensation came upon him; as sometimes righteous ones are taken from the evil to come, as Methuselah was before the flood, Genesis 5:27; and Job wonders this was not his case, or at least he wishes it had been; for so Aben Ezra seems to understand and read the words, "why was I not cut off?" c. as if it was a wish, and expressive of his desire, that this had been done which was what he had expostulated with God about at first, in the third chapter, and death was what he always desired, and still continued to wish for: or else the sense is, that he was amazed that he "was not cut off, because", "at", "through", or "by darkness" b; by means of his afflictions; he wondered how he was supported under them, and carried through them, that they did not press him down to death; how such a poor wasted creature as he was, reduced to skin and bones, should ever be able to endure what he did;
[neither] hath he covered the darkness from my face; that I should not see and feel the afflictions I do; or rather, "he hath covered the darkness from my face", for the word "neither" is not in the text, though repeated by many interpreters from the foregoing clause; and then the sense is though I am sensible of the darkness of affliction upon me, yet he has covered it so from me, that I cannot see an end of it, or any way to escape out of it; or, which is the sense Drusius gives, he hath covered death and the grave from me, which is a state of darkness, a land of darkness, or darkness itself, as he calls
Job 10:21; that he could not see it, and enjoy it; he wished for death, but could not have it, it was hid from him. Cocceius renders the words very differently, he, that is, "God, hath covered himself with darkness from my face"; and interprets it of divine desertion, which troubled and terrified Job; and because he thus covered himself as it were with a cloud, this was the reason why he knew not where he was, and could not find him, when he made the most diligent search for him, and this grieved and astonished him, see Lamentations 3:44.
b מפני חשך "propter tenebras", Pagninus, Piscator, Cocceius; so V. L. "a tenebris", Drusius; "a praesentibus, tenebris", Beza.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
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.
Neither hath he covered the darkness from my face - The word “neither” is supplied here by our translators, but not improperly. The difficulty with Job was, that God had not “hidden” this darkness and calamity so that he had not seen it. He could not understand why, since he was his friend, God had not taken him away, so that all should have seen, even in his death, that he was the friend of God. This feeling is not, perhaps, very uncommon among those who are called to pass through trials. They do not understand why they were reserved to these sufferings, and why God did not take them away before the billows of calamity rolled over them.
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
Verse Job 23:17. 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.
Ver. Job 23:16: "The Lord hath beaten down my strength, and my soul has been terrified by his fear."
Ver. 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?
