He does not believe that he will return from darkness, For a sword is waiting for him.
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.
- BSB He despairs of his return from darkness; he is marked for the sword.
- 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. The bronze arrow shall strike him through.
- Job 19:29be afraid of the sword, for wrath brings the punishments of the sword, that you may know there is a judgment.”
- Job 27:14If his children are multiplied, it is for the sword. His offspring shall not be satisfied with bread.
- Isa 8:21–22They will pass through it, very distressed and hungry; and it will happen that when they are hungry, they will worry, and curse by their king and by their God. They will turn their faces upward,
- 2 Kgs 6:33While he was still talking with them, behold, the messenger came down to him. Then he said, “Behold, this evil is from Yahweh. Why should I wait for Yahweh any longer?”
- Job 6:11What is my strength, that I should wait? What is my end, that I should be patient?
- Matt 27:5He threw down the pieces of silver in the sanctuary, and departed. He went away and hanged himself.
- Job 9:16If I had called, and he had answered me, yet I wouldn’t believe that he listened 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.