He will not escape from the darkness; the flame will wither his shoots, and the breath of God’s mouth will carry him away.
Parallel translations
- WEB He shall not depart out of darkness. The flame shall dry up his branches. By the breath of God’s mouth shall he go away.
- KJV He shall not depart out of darkness; the flame shall dry up his branches, and by the breath of his mouth shall he go away.
- NKJV He will not depart from darkness; The flame will dry out his branches, And by the breath of His mouth he will go away.
- NASB “He will not escape from darkness; The flame will dry up his shoot, And he will go away by the breath of His mouth.
- NLT “They will not escape the darkness. The burning sun will wither their shoots, and the breath of God will destroy them.
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 cannot escape darkness; God's breath withers and removes him. His destruction comes directly from God.
Overview
Eliphaz pictures the godless consumed like a tree scorched by flame and swept away by the breath of God's mouth. The imagery stresses that judgment is God's own act, not mere misfortune. While God does judge the wicked, the same divine breath that destroys also gives and renews life (Job 33:4), pointing beyond judgment to the hope of restoration in God.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 20
- Job 4:9By the breath of God they perish, and by the blast of His anger they are consumed.
- Job 20:26Total darkness is reserved for his treasures. A fire unfanned will consume him and devour what is left in his tent.
- Matt 25:41Then He will say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
- Job 15:22He despairs of his return from darkness; he is marked for the sword.
- Job 18:5–6Indeed, the lamp of the wicked is extinguished; the flame of his fire does not glow.
- Job 18:18He is driven from light into darkness and is chased from the inhabited world.
- Ezek 20:47–48Say to the forest of the Negev: Hear the word of the LORD! This is what the Lord GOD says: I am about to ignite in you a fire, and it will devour all your trees, both green and dry. The blazing flame will not be quenched, and by it every face from south to north will be scorched.
- Ezek 15:4–7No, it is cast into the fire for fuel. The fire devours both ends, and the middle is charred. Can it be useful for anything?
- Mark 9:43–49If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two hands and go into hell, into the unquenchable fire.
- 2 Th 1:8–9in blazing fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.
- Matt 22:13Then the king told the servants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
- Matt 8:12But the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
- 2 Pet 2:17These men are springs without water and mists driven by a storm. Blackest darkness is reserved for them.
- Jude 1:13They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame; wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever.
- Isa 30:33For Topheth has long been prepared; it has been made ready for the king. Its funeral pyre is deep and wide, with plenty of fire and wood. The breath of the LORD, like a torrent of burning sulfur, sets it ablaze.
- Rev 19:15And from His mouth proceeds a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and He will rule them with an iron scepter. He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty.
- Isa 11:4but with righteousness He will judge the poor, and with equity He will decide for the lowly of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth and slay the wicked with the breath of His lips.
- Job 5:14They encounter darkness by day and grope at noon as in the night.
- Job 10:21–22before I go—never to return—to a land of darkness and gloom,
- Job 22:20‘Surely our foes are destroyed, and fire has consumed their excess.’
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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 15:30 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
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