Lectionary Calendar
Thursday, September 18th, 2025
the Week of Proper 19 / Ordinary 24
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Read the Bible

Literal Standard Version

Job 22:11

Or darkness—you do not see, || And abundance of waters covers you.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Poor;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Eliphaz;   Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Greatness of God;   Hypocrisy;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Job, the Book of;   Smith Bible Dictionary - Wages;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Abound;   Eliphaz (2);   Job, Book of;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
or darkness, so you cannot see,and a flood of water covers you.
Hebrew Names Version
Or darkness, so that you can not see, And floods of waters cover you.
King James Version
Or darkness, that thou canst not see; and abundance of waters cover thee.
English Standard Version
or darkness, so that you cannot see, and a flood of water covers you.
New Century Version
That is why it is so dark you cannot see and a flood of water covers you.
New English Translation
why it is so dark you cannot see, and why a flood of water covers you.
Amplified Bible
Or darkness, so that you cannot see, And a flood of water covers you.
New American Standard Bible
Or darkness, so that you cannot see, And a flood of water covers you.
World English Bible
Or darkness, so that you can not see, And floods of waters cover you.
Geneva Bible (1587)
Or darkenes that thou shouldest not see, & abundance of waters shal couer thee.
Legacy Standard Bible
Or darkness, so that you cannot see,And an abundance of water covers you.
Berean Standard Bible
it is so dark you cannot see, and a flood of water covers you.
Contemporary English Version
blinded by darkness, and drowned in a flood.
Complete Jewish Bible
or darkness , so that you can't see, and a flood of water that covers you up!
Darby Translation
Or darkness, that thou canst not see, and floods of waters cover thee.
Easy-to-Read Version
That is why it is so dark you cannot see, and why a flood of water covers you.
George Lamsa Translation
Where is the darkness, that you cannot see; and the flood of water that covers you?
Good News Translation
It has grown so dark that you cannot see, and a flood overwhelms you.
Lexham English Bible
or it is so dark you cannot see, and a flood of water covers you.
Literal Translation
or darkness, so that you cannot see, and a flood of waters covers you.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Shuldest thou the se no darcknesse? Shulde not the water floude runne ouer the?
American Standard Version
Or darkness, so that thou canst not see, And abundance of waters cover thee.
Bible in Basic English
Your light is made dark so that you are unable to see, and you are covered by a mass of waters.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
Or darkness, that thou canst not see, and abundance of waters cover thee.
King James Version (1611)
Or darkenes that thou canst not see, and abundance of waters couer thee.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
Shouldest thou then see no darknesse? shoulde not the water fludde run ouer thee?
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
The light has proved darkness to thee, and water has covered thee on thy lying down.
English Revised Version
Or darkness, that thou canst not see, and abundance of waters cover thee.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And thou gessidist, that thou schuldist not se derknessis; and that thou schuldist not be oppressid with the fersnesse of watris flowyng.
Update Bible Version
Or darkness, so that you can't see, And abundance of waters cover you.
Webster's Bible Translation
Or darkness, [that] thou canst not see; and abundance of waters cover thee.
New King James Version
Or darkness so that you cannot see; And an abundance of water covers you.
New Living Translation
That is why you cannot see in the darkness, and waves of water cover you.
New Life Bible
This is why it is dark and you cannot see, and a flood of water covers you.
New Revised Standard
or darkness so that you cannot see; a flood of water covers you.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Or darkness - thou canst not see, and, a flood of waters, covereth thee.
Douay-Rheims Bible
And didst thou think that thou shouldst not see darkness, and that thou shouldst not be covered with the violence of overflowing waters?
Revised Standard Version
your light is darkened, so that you cannot see, and a flood of water covers you.
Young's Literal Translation
Or darkness -- thou dost not see, And abundance of waters doth cover thee.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
Or darkness, so that you cannot see, And an abundance of water covers you.

Contextual Overview

5Is your wickedness not abundant? And there is no end to your iniquities. 6For you take a pledge of your brother for nothing, || And you strip off the garments of the naked. 7You do not cause the weary to drink water, || And you withhold bread from the hungry. 8As for the man of arm—he has the earth, || And the accepted of face—he dwells in it. 9You have sent widows away empty, || And the arms of the fatherless are bruised. 10Therefore snares [are] all around you, || And sudden fear troubles you. 11Or darkness—you do not see, || And abundance of waters covers you.12Is God not high [in] the heavens? And see the summit of the stars, || That they are high. 13And you have said, How has God known? Does He judge through thickness? 14Thick clouds [are] a secret place to Him, || And He does not see, || And He habitually walks [above] the circle of the heavens.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

darkness: Job 18:6, Job 18:18, Job 19:8, Proverbs 4:19, Isaiah 8:22, Lamentations 3:2, Joel 2:2, Joel 2:3, Matthew 8:12

abundance: Psalms 42:7, Psalms 69:1, Psalms 69:2, Psalms 124:4, Lamentations 3:54, Jonah 2:3

Reciprocal: Job 23:17 - the darkness from

Cross-References

Genesis 16:7
And the Messenger of YHWH finds her by the fountain of water in the wilderness, by the fountain in the way [to] Shur,
Genesis 21:17
And God hears the voice of the youth; and the messenger of God calls to Hagar from the heavens and says to her, "What to you, Hagar? Do not fear; for God has listened to the voice of the youth where he [is];
Genesis 22:1
And it comes to pass after these things that God has tried Abraham and says to him, "Abraham"; and he says, "Here I [am]."
Genesis 22:9
And they come to the place of which God has spoken to him, and there Abraham builds the altar, and arranges the wood, and binds his son Isaac, and places him on the altar above the wood;
Genesis 22:10
and Abraham puts forth his hand, and takes the knife—to slaughter his son.
Genesis 22:12
and He says, "Do not put forth your hand to the youth, nor do anything to him, for now I have known that you are fearing God, and have not withheld your son, your only one, from Me."
Genesis 22:16
and says, "I have sworn by Myself—a declaration of YHWH—that because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only one,
Exodus 3:4
And YHWH sees that he has turned aside to see, and God calls to him out of the midst of the bush and says, "Moses! Moses!" And he says, "Here I [am]."
1 Samuel 3:10
And YHWH comes, and stations Himself, and calls as time by time, "Samuel, Samuel"; and Samuel says, "Speak, for Your servant is hearing."
Acts 9:4
and having fallen on the earth, he heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me?"

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Or darkness, [that] thou canst not see,.... Or darkness is round about thee, thou art enveloped in it; meaning either judicial blindness, and darkness, and stupidity of mind, which must be his case, if he could not see the hand of God upon him, or the snares that were about him, or was not troubled with sudden fear; or else the darkness of affliction and calamity, which is often signified hereby, see Isaiah 8:22; afflictive dispensations of Providence are sometimes so dark, that a man cannot see the cause and reason of them, or why it is he is brought into them; which was Job's case, and therefore desires God would show him wherefore he contended with him,

Job 10:9; nor can he see, perceive, or enjoy any light of comfort; he is in inward darkness of soul, deprived of the light of God's countenance, as well as he is in the outward darkness of adversity, which is a most uncomfortable case, as it was this good man's; nor can he see any end of the affliction, or any way to escape out of it, and which were the present circumstances Job was in:

and abundance of waters cover thee; afflictions, which are frequently compared to many waters, and floods of them, because of the multitude of them, their force and strength, the power and rapidity with which they come; and because overflowing, overbearing, and overwhelming, and threaten with utter ruin and destruction, unless stopped by the mighty hand of God, who only can resist and restrain them; Eliphaz represents Job like a man drowning, overflowed with a flood of water, and covered with its waves, and in the most desperate condition, see Psalms 69:1.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Or darkness - Darkness and night in the Scriptures are emblems of calamity.

That thou canst not see - Deep and fearful darkness; total night, so that nothing is visible. That is, the heaviest calamities had overwhelmed him.

And abundance of waters - An emblem, also, of calamities; Job 27:20; Psalms 69:1-2; Psalms 73:10.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Job 22:11. Or darkness, that thou canst not see — The sense of this passage, in the connection that the particle or gives it with the preceding verse, is not easy to be ascertained. To me it seems very probable that a letter has been lost from the first word; and that או o which we translate OR, was originally אור or LIGHT. The copy used by the Septuagint had certainly this reading; and therefore they translate the verse thus: Το φως σοι εις σκοτος απεβη; Thy LIGHT is changed into darkness; that is, Thy prosperity is turned into adversity.

Houbigant corrects the text thus: instead of או חשך לא תראה o chosech lo tireh, or darkness thou canst not see, he reads חשך לא אור תראה chosech lo or tireh, darkness, not light, shalt thou behold; that is, Thou shalt dwell in thick darkness. Mr. Good translates: "Or darkness which thou canst not penetrate, and a flood of waters shall cover thee." Thou shalt either be enveloped in deep darkness, or overwhelmed with a flood.

The versions all translate differently; and neither they nor the MSS. give any light, except what is afforded by the Septuagint. Coverdale is singular: Shuldest thou then send darcknesse? Shulde not the water floude runne over the? Perhaps the meaning is: "Thou art so encompassed with darkness, that thou canst not see thy way; and therefore fallest into the snares and traps that are laid for thee."


 
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