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.
Parallel translations
- 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.
- BSB He will not escape from the darkness; the flame will wither his shoots, and the breath of God’s mouth will carry him 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. By the blast of his anger are they consumed.
- Job 20:26All darkness is laid up for his treasures. An unfanned fire shall devour him. It shall consume that which is left in his tent.
- Matt 25:41Then he will say also to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels;
- Job 15:22He doesn’t believe that he shall return out of darkness. He is waited for by the sword.
- Job 18:5–6“Yes, the light of the wicked shall be put out, The spark of his fire shall not shine.
- Job 18:18He shall be driven from light into darkness, and chased out of the world.
- Ezek 20:47–48and tell the forest of the South, ‘Hear Yahweh’s word: Thus says the Lord Yahweh, “Behold, I will kindle a fire in you, and it shall devour every green tree in you, and every dry tree: the flaming flame shall not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north shall be burned thereby.
- Ezek 15:4–7Behold, it is cast into the fire for fuel; the fire has devoured both its ends, and the middle of it is burned. Is it profitable for any work?
- Mark 9:43–49If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed, rather than having your two hands to go into Gehenna, into the unquenchable fire,
- 2 Th 1:8–9giving vengeance to those who don’t know God, and to those who don’t obey the Good News of our Lord Jesus,
- Matt 22:13Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and throw him into the outer darkness; there is where the weeping and grinding of teeth will be.’
- Matt 8:12but the children of the Kingdom will be thrown out into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
- 2 Pet 2:17These are wells without water, clouds driven by a storm; for whom the blackness of darkness has been reserved forever.
- Jude 1:13wild waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the blackness of darkness has been reserved forever.
- Isa 30:33For his burning place has long been ready. Yes, for the king it is prepared. He has made its pyre deep and large with fire and much wood. Yahweh’s breath, like a stream of sulfur, kindles it.
- Rev 19:15Out of his mouth proceeds a sharp, double-edged sword, that with it he should strike the nations. He will rule them with an iron rod. He treads the wine press of the fierceness of the wrath of God, the Almighty.
- Isa 11:4but with righteousness he will judge the poor, and decide with equity for the humble of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; and with the breath of his lips he will kill the wicked.
- Job 5:14They meet with darkness in the day time, and grope at noonday as in the night.
- Job 10:21–22before I go where I shall not return from, to the land of darkness and of the shadow of death;
- Job 22:20saying, ‘Surely those who rose up against us are cut off. The fire has consumed their remnant.’
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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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