Yes, his soul draws near to the pit, and his life to the destroyers.
Parallel translations
- KJV Yea, his soul draweth near unto the grave, and his life to the destroyers.
- BSB He draws near to the Pit, and his life to the messengers of death.
- NKJV Yes, his soul draws near the Pit, And his life to the executioners.
- NASB “Then his soul comes near to the pit, And his life to those who bring death.
- NLT They are at death’s door; the angels of death wait for 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
God will place Moses in a cleft of the rock and cover him with His hand as His glory passes. Divine protection makes the encounter possible.
Overview
God shields Moses by hiding him in the rock and covering him until the glory has passed. The imagery of being hidden and covered speaks of God's protecting grace. Believers have long seen here a picture of finding refuge in Christ, hidden in the cleft of the Rock from the consuming holiness of God.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- Job 33:28He has redeemed my soul from going into the pit. My life shall see the light.’
- 2 Sam 24:16When the angel stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, Yahweh relented of the disaster, and said to the angel who destroyed the people, “It is enough. Now withdraw your hand.” Yahweh’s angel was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.
- Isa 38:10I said, “In the middle of my life I go into the gates of Sheol. I am deprived of the residue of my years.”
- Job 15:21A sound of terrors is in his ears. In prosperity the destroyer shall come on him.
- Job 17:1“My spirit is consumed. My days are extinct, And the grave is ready for me.
- Job 7:7Oh remember that my life is a breath. My eye shall no more see good.
- Job 17:13–16If I look for Sheol as my house, if I have spread my couch in the darkness,
- Acts 12:23Immediately an angel of the Lord struck him, because he didn’t give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and died.
- 1 Cor 10:10Don’t grumble, as some of them also grumbled, and perished by the destroyer.
- Ps 30:3Yahweh, you have brought up my soul from Sheol. You have kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit.
- Ps 88:3–5For my soul is full of troubles. My life draws near to Sheol.
- Ps 17:4As for the deeds of men, by the word of your lips, I have kept myself from the ways of the violent.
- Exod 12:23For Yahweh will pass through to strike the Egyptians; and when he sees the blood on the lintel, and on the two door posts, Yahweh will pass over the door, and will not allow the destroyer to come in to your houses to strike you.
- Rev 9:11They have over them as king the angel of the abyss. His name in Hebrew is “Abaddon”, but in Greek, he has the name “Apollyon”.
- 1 Sam 2:6“Yahweh kills, and makes alive. He brings down to Sheol, and brings up.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Commentaries & study tools
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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 33:22 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.