He despairs of his return from darkness; he is marked for the sword.
Parallel translations
- WEB He doesn’t believe that he shall return out of darkness. He is waited for by the sword.
- KJV He believeth not that he shall return out of darkness, and he is waited for of the sword.
- NKJV He does not believe that he will return from darkness, For a sword is waiting for him.
- NASB “He does not believe that he will return from darkness, And he is destined for the sword.
- NLT They dare not go out into the darkness for fear they will be murdered.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The wicked man despairs of escaping darkness and is marked out for violent death. His doom feels inevitable to him.
Overview
Eliphaz portrays the godless as hopeless, certain he cannot return from calamity and destined for the sword. The imagery underscores judgment closing in. Such language echoes the biblical theme that the way of the wicked leads to death, though here Eliphaz mistakenly presses it onto Job, whose darkness is a trial, not a sentence for sin.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Job 20:24–25Though he flees from an iron weapon, a bronze-tipped arrow will pierce him.
- Job 19:29then you should fear the sword yourselves, because wrath brings punishment by the sword, so that you may know there is a judgment.”
- Job 27:14Though his sons are many, they are destined for the sword; and his offspring will never have enough food.
- Isa 8:21–22They will roam the land, dejected and hungry. When they are famished, they will become enraged; and looking upward, they will curse their king and their God.
- 2 Kgs 6:33While Elisha was still speaking with them, the messenger came down to him. And the king said, “This calamity is from the LORD. Why should I wait for the LORD any longer?”
- Job 6:11What strength do I have, that I should still hope? What is my future, that I should be patient?
- Matt 27:5So Judas threw the silver into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself.
- Job 9:16If I summoned Him and He answered me, I do not believe He would listen to my voice.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Job's cry for a mediator who can lay his hand on both God and man, and his confidence that 'my Redeemer lives' and will stand on the earth, reaches forward to Jesus the living Redeemer.
How Job 15:22 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.