He hath fenced up my way that I cannot pass, and he hath set darkness in my paths.
Parallel translations
- WEB He has walled up my way so that I can’t pass, and has set darkness in my paths.
- BSB He has blocked my way so I cannot pass; He has veiled my paths with darkness.
- NKJV He has fenced up my way, so that I cannot pass; And He has set darkness in my paths.
- NASB “He has blocked my way so that I cannot pass, And He has put darkness on my paths.
- NLT God has blocked my way so I cannot move. He has plunged my path into darkness.
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
Job says God has walled up his path and set darkness before him, blocking every way forward. He feels hemmed in by God himself.
Overview
Using imagery of an impassable, darkened road, Job portrays God as the one obstructing his life so he cannot escape his misery. The darkness signals confusion, hopelessness, and the loss of clear direction. Even here Job's words are addressed God-ward, and the believer trusts that the God who hedges in can also make a way, supremely through the One who is the Way (John 14:6).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Job 3:23Why is light given to a man whose way is hid, and whom God hath hedged in?
- Lam 3:7He hath hedged me about, that I cannot get out: he hath made my chain heavy.
- Lam 3:9He hath inclosed my ways with hewn stone, he hath made my paths crooked.
- Ps 88:8Thou hast put away mine acquaintance far from me; thou hast made me an abomination unto them: I am shut up, and I cannot come forth.
- Prov 4:19The way of the wicked is as darkness: they know not at what they stumble.
- Hos 2:6Therefore, behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns, and make a wall, that she shall not find her paths.
- Job 30:26When I looked for good, then evil came unto me: and when I waited for light, there came darkness.
- Isa 50:10Who is among you that feareth the LORD, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh in darkness, and hath no light? let him trust in the name of the LORD, and stay upon his God.
- Josh 24:7And when they cried unto the LORD, he put darkness between you and the Egyptians, and brought the sea upon them, and covered them; and your eyes have seen what I have done in Egypt: and ye dwelt in the wilderness a long season.
- Jer 23:12Wherefore their way shall be unto them as slippery ways in the darkness: they shall be driven on, and fall therein: for I will bring evil upon them, even the year of their visitation, saith the LORD.
- Jer 13:16Give glory to the LORD your God, before he cause darkness, and before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains, and, while ye look for light, he turn it into the shadow of death, and make it gross darkness.
- John 8:12Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 19:8 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.