Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Have you seen the gates of the shadow of death?
Parallel translations
- WEB Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Or have you seen the gates of the shadow of death?
- KJV Have the gates of death been opened unto thee? or hast thou seen the doors of the shadow of death?
- NKJV Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Or have you seen the doors of the shadow of death?
- NASB “Have the gates of death been revealed to you, And have you seen the gates of deep darkness?
- NLT Do you know where the gates of death are located? Have you seen the gates of utter gloom?
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
Have the gates of death and the deep shadow ever been shown to Job? The realm of the dead is God's domain, not man's.
Overview
God asks whether Job has seen the entrances to death and its darkness. No living person possesses such knowledge. This points beyond Job's limits to God's sovereignty even over death, a power supremely displayed when Christ conquers the grave (Revelation 1:18).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Ps 9:13Be merciful to me, O LORD; see how my enemies afflict me! Lift me up from the gates of death,
- Ps 107:18They loathed all food and drew near to the gates of death.
- Job 3:5May darkness and gloom reclaim it, and a cloud settle over it; may the blackness of the day overwhelm it.
- Ps 23:4Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
- Ps 107:10Some sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, prisoners in affliction and chains,
- Job 12:22He reveals the deep things of darkness and brings deep shadows into light.
- Ps 107:14He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death and broke away their chains.
- Amos 5:8He who made the Pleiades and Orion, who turns darkness into dawn and darkens day into night, who summons the waters of the sea and pours them over the face of the earth—the LORD is His name—
- Ps 116:3The ropes of death entangled me; the anguish of Sheol overcame me; I was confronted by trouble and sorrow.
- Matt 4:16the people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death, a light has dawned.”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
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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 38:17 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.