He believeth not that he shall return out of darkness, and he is waited for of the sword.
Parallel translations
- WEB He doesn’t believe that he shall return out of darkness. He is waited for by the sword.
- BSB He despairs of his return from darkness; he is marked for 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 20:24–25He shall flee from the iron weapon, and the bow of steel shall strike him through.
- Job 19:29Be ye afraid of the sword: for wrath bringeth the punishments of the sword, that ye may know there is a judgment.
- Job 27:14If his children be multiplied, it is for the sword: and his offspring shall not be satisfied with bread.
- Isa 8:21–22And they shall pass through it, hardly bestead and hungry: and it shall come to pass, that when they shall be hungry, they shall fret themselves, and curse their king and their God, and look upward.
- 2 Kgs 6:33And while he yet talked with them, behold, the messenger came down unto him: and he said, Behold, this evil is of the LORD; what should I wait for the LORD any longer?
- Job 6:11What is my strength, that I should hope? and what is mine end, that I should prolong my life?
- Matt 27:5And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself.
- Job 9:16If I had called, and he had answered me; yet would I not believe that he had hearkened unto my voice.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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.