The underworld is naked in God’s presence. The place of destruction is uncovered.
Parallel translations
- WEB Sheol is naked before God, and Abaddon has no covering.
- KJV Hell is naked before him, and destruction hath no covering.
- BSB Sheol is naked before God, and Abaddon has no covering.
- NKJV Sheol is naked before Him, And Destruction has no covering.
- NASB “Sheol is naked before Him, And Abaddon has no covering.
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
Sheol and Abaddon lie open and uncovered before God. It matters because nothing, not even the place of destruction, is hidden from Him.
Overview
Job affirms that the realm of the dead and the place of destruction are naked before God, fully exposed to His sight. There is no hiding place anywhere in creation. This omniscience comforts believers and warns the wicked, for the God from whom nothing is concealed has provided in Christ a covering for sin (Ps. 32:1).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Ps 139:8If I ascend up into heaven, you are there. If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, you are there!
- Prov 15:11Sheol and Abaddon are before Yahweh — how much more then the hearts of the children of men!
- Heb 4:13There is no creature that is hidden from his sight, but all things are naked and laid open before the eyes of him to whom we must give an account.
- Amos 9:2Though they dig into Sheol, there my hand will take them; and though they climb up to heaven, there I will bring them down.
- Job 28:22Destruction and Death say, ‘We have heard a rumor of it with our ears.’
- Job 41:11Who has first given to me, that I should repay him? Everything under the heavens is mine.
- Job 11:8They are high as heaven. What can you do? They are deeper than Sheol. What can you know?
- Ps 139:11If I say, “Surely the darkness will overwhelm me; the light around me will be night”;
- Ps 88:10Do you show wonders to the dead? Do the departed spirits rise up and praise you? Selah.
- Isa 14:9Sheol from beneath has moved for you to meet you at your coming. It stirs up the departed spirits for you, even all the rulers of the earth. It has raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations.
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 26:6 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.