By the blast of God they perish, and by the breath of his nostrils are they consumed.
Parallel translations
- WEB By the breath of God they perish. By the blast of his anger are they consumed.
- BSB By the breath of God they perish, and by the blast of His anger they are consumed.
- NKJV By the blast of God they perish, And by the breath of His anger they are consumed.
- NASB “By the breath of God they perish, And by the blast of His anger they come to an end.
- NLT A breath from God destroys them. They vanish in a blast of his anger.
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
Eliphaz says the wicked perish by God's breath and anger. He stresses that God judges the guilty.
Overview
Eliphaz declares that the breath and blast of God's anger consume the wicked, reinforcing his theme of divine retribution. The statement is true of God's judgment in general but misapplied to Job, who is not wicked. By insisting suffering always signals guilt, Eliphaz misreads Job's case, a misreading the rest of the book and ultimately the gospel will expose and correct.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Job 15:30He shall not depart out of darkness; the flame shall dry up his branches, and by the breath of his mouth shall he go away.
- 2 Th 2:8And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:
- Isa 30:33For Tophet is ordained of old; yea, for the king it is prepared; he hath made it deep and large: the pile thereof is fire and much wood; the breath of the LORD, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it.
- Isa 11:4But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.
- Ps 18:15Then the channels of waters were seen, and the foundations of the world were discovered at thy rebuke, O LORD, at the blast of the breath of thy nostrils.
- Rev 2:16Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.
- Exod 15:10Thou didst blow with thy wind, the sea covered them: they sank as lead in the mighty waters.
- Job 1:19And, behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and smote the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young men, and they are dead; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.
- Exod 15:8And with the blast of thy nostrils the waters were gathered together, the floods stood upright as an heap, and the depths were congealed in the heart of the sea.
- Job 40:13Hide them in the dust together; and bind their faces in secret.
- 2 Kgs 19:7Behold, I will send a blast upon him, and he shall hear a rumour, and shall return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
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 4:9 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.