Have the gates of death been opened unto thee? or hast thou seen the doors 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?
- BSB Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Have you seen the gates 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 9:13Have mercy upon me, O LORD; consider my trouble which I suffer of them that hate me, thou that liftest me up from the gates of death:
- Ps 107:18Their soul abhorreth all manner of meat; and they draw near unto the gates of death.
- Job 3:5Let darkness and the shadow of death stain it; let a cloud dwell upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it.
- Ps 23:4Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
- Ps 107:10Such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron;
- Job 12:22He discovereth deep things out of darkness, and bringeth out to light the shadow of death.
- Ps 107:14He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and brake their bands in sunder.
- Amos 5:8Seek him that maketh the seven stars and Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day dark with night: that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The LORD is his name:
- Ps 116:3The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of hell gat hold upon me: I found trouble and sorrow.
- Matt 4:16The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung 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 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.