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“Amid disquieting thoughts from visions of the night, When deep sleep falls on people,
Job 4:13 · New American Standard Bible
Parallel translations
  • WEB In thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep falls on men,
  • KJV In thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep falleth on men,
  • BSB In disquieting visions in the night, when deep sleep falls on men,
  • NKJV In disquieting thoughts from the visions of the night, When deep sleep falls on men,
  • NLT It came to me in a disturbing vision at night, when people are in a deep sleep.

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

The vision came amid disturbing night thoughts when deep sleep falls on people. It sets the unsettling, dreamlike scene for the message Eliphaz reports.

Overview

Eliphaz describes the visitation arriving in the troubled imaginings of the night, during the heavy sleep that overtakes humanity. The atmosphere is one of vulnerability and unease rather than peace. While God did speak through dreams in Scripture, the brooding tone here invites discernment about the source and reliability of Eliphaz's experience, since a genuine encounter with God is not measured by its emotional intensity.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 14

  • Job 33:14–16For God speaks once, yes twice, though man pays no attention.
  • Gen 2:21Yahweh God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep. As the man slept, he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place.
  • Gen 20:3But God came to Abimelech in a dream of the night, and said to him, “Behold, you are a dead man, because of the woman whom you have taken. For she is a man’s wife.”
  • Dan 10:9Yet heard I the voice of his words; and when I heard the voice of his words, then was I fallen into a deep sleep on my face, with my face toward the ground.
  • Gen 31:24God came to Laban, the Syrian, in a dream of the night, and said to him, “Be careful that you don’t speak to Jacob either good or bad.”
  • Dan 8:18Now as he was speaking with me, I fell into a deep sleep with my face toward the ground; but he touched me, and set me upright.
  • Num 22:19–20Now therefore, please wait also here this night, that I may know what Yahweh will speak to me more.”
  • Dan 4:5I saw a dream which made me afraid; and the thoughts on my bed and the visions of my head troubled me.
  • Gen 15:12When the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram. Now terror and great darkness fell on him.
  • Gen 46:2God spoke to Israel in the visions of the night, and said, “Jacob, Jacob!” He said, “Here I am.”
  • Dan 2:19Then was the secret revealed to Daniel in a vision of the night. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven.
  • Num 12:6He said, “Now hear my words. If there is a prophet among you, I, Yahweh, will make myself known to him in a vision. I will speak with him in a dream.
  • Dan 2:28–29but there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets, and he has made known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days. Your dream, and the visions of your head on your bed, are these:
  • Gen 28:12He dreamed. Behold, a stairway set upon the earth, and its top reached to heaven. Behold, the angels of God ascending and descending on it.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (2)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Job videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Job 4:13YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on JobMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    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 4:13 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.