Their treasures will be thrown into deepest darkness. A wildfire will devour their goods, consuming all they have left.
Parallel translations
- WEB All darkness is laid up for his treasures. An unfanned fire shall devour him. It shall consume that which is left in his tent.
- KJV All darkness shall be hid in his secret places: a fire not blown shall consume him; it shall go ill with him that is left in his tabernacle.
- BSB Total darkness is reserved for his treasures. A fire unfanned will consume him and devour what is left in his tent.
- NKJV Total darkness is reserved for his treasures. An unfanned fire will consume him; It shall go ill with him who is left in his tent.
- NASB Complete darkness is held in reserve for his treasures, And unfanned fire will devour him; It will consume the survivor in his tent.
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
Total darkness awaits his treasures; an unfanned fire devours him and consumes what is left in his tent. His wealth and household are destroyed.
Overview
Zophar foretells utter darkness for the wicked man's hoarded riches and a supernatural fire, kindled by no human hand, that devours him and all he has. The 'unfanned fire' suggests judgment sent directly from God. The imagery of consuming fire warns of the destruction reserved for the ungodly, while pointing forward to the refining and judging fire of God's holiness (Hebrews 12:29).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Ps 21:9You will make them as a fiery furnace in the time of your anger. Yahweh will swallow them up in his wrath. The fire shall devour them.
- Ps 120:4Sharp arrows of the mighty, with coals of juniper.
- Isa 14:20–22You will not join them in burial, because you have destroyed your land. You have killed your people. The offspring of evildoers will not be named 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.
- Jude 1:13wild waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the blackness of darkness has been reserved forever.
- Matt 3:12His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will thoroughly cleanse his threshing floor. He will gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn up with unquenchable fire.”
- Job 18:18–19He shall be driven from light into darkness, and chased out of the world.
- Ps 109:9–15Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow.
- Matt 8:12but the children of the Kingdom will be thrown out into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
- Isa 8:22and look to the earth, and see distress, darkness, and the gloom of anguish. They will be driven into thick darkness.
- Job 18:5–6“Yes, the light of the wicked shall be put out, The spark of his fire shall not shine.
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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 20:26 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.