Job 36:20

Job 36:20 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)Desire not the night, when people are cut off in their place.
• New International Version (NIV)Do not long for the night, to drag people away from their homes.
• English Standard Version (ESV)Do not long for the night, when peoples vanish in their place.
• New King James Version (NKJV)Do not desire the night, When people are cut off in their place.

Context of Job 36:20

18For let not wrath stir thee up against chastisements; Neither let the greatness of the ransom turn thee aside. 19Will thy cry avail, that thou be not in distress, Or all the forces ofthystrength? Desire not the night, When peoples are cut off in their place. 21Take heed, regard not iniquity: For this hast thou chosen rather than affliction. 22Behold, God doeth loftily in his power: Who is a teacher like unto him?

Job 36:20 word by word

אַל־תִּשְׁאַ֥ף הַלָּ֑יְלָה לַעֲל֖וֹת עַמִּ֣ים תַּחְתָּֽם׃Read the interlinear

• nightלַ֫יְלָהlayil lêyl layelâh · nightH3915
• peoplesעַם‛am · peopleH5971
• placeתַּחַתtachath · underneath: standH8478

Cross-references for Job 36:20

• Job 3:20Wherefore is light given to him that is in misery, And life unto the bitter in soul;
• Job 6:9Even that it would please God to crush me; That he would let loose his hand, and cut me off!
• Job 7:15So that my soul chooseth strangling, And death rather than these my bones.
• Job 14:13Oh that thou wouldest hide me in Sheol, That thou wouldest keep me secret, until thy wrath be past, That thou wouldest appoint me a set time, and remember me!
• Job 17:13If I look for Sheol as my house; If I have spread my couch in the darkness;
• Exodus 12:29And it came to pass at midnight, that Jehovah smote all the first-born in the land of Egypt, from the first-born of Pharaoh that sat on his throne unto the first-born of the captive that was in the dungeon; and all the first-born of cattle.
• 2 Kings 19:35And it came to pass that night, that the angel of Jehovah went forth, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred fourscore and five thousand: and when men arose early in the morning, behold, these were all dead bodies.
• Proverbs 14:32The wicked is thrust down in his evil-doing; But the righteous hath a refuge in his death.
• Ecclesiastes 11:3If the clouds be full of rain, they empty themselves upon the earth; and if a tree fall toward the south, or toward the north, in the place where the tree falleth, there shall it be.
• Daniel 5:30In that night Belshazzar the Chaldean king was slain.
• Luke 12:20But God said unto him, Thou foolish one, this night is thy soul required of thee; and the things which thou hast prepared, whose shall they be?
• Acts 1:25to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas fell away, that he might go to his own place.
• 1 Thessalonians 5:2For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.

Commentaries on Job 36:20

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 20Desire not the night - Thou hast wished for death; (here called night); desire it not; leave that with God. If he hear thee, and send death, thou mayest be cut off in a way at which thy soul would shudder.Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 20Desire not the night - That is, evidently, “the night of death.” The darkness of the night is an emblem of death, and it is not uncommon to speak of death in this manner; see John 9:4, “The night cometh, when no man can work.” Elihu seems to have supposed that Job might have looked forward to death as to a time of release; that so far from “dreading” what he had said would come, that God would cut him off at a stroke, it might be the very thing which he…Read the comment
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 15-23Verses 15-23 Elihu shows that Job caused the continuance of his own trouble. He cautions him not to persist in frowardness. Even good men need to be kept to their duty by the fear of God's wrath; the wisest and best have enough in them to deserve his stroke. Let not Job continue his unjust quarrel with God and his providence. And let us never dare to think favourably of sin, never indulge it, nor allow ourselves in it. Elihu thinks Job needed this…Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 2020. Desire--pant for. Job had wished for death (Job 3:3-9, &c.). night--(Joh 9:4). when--rather, "whereby." cut off--literally, "ascend," as the corn cut and lifted upon the wagon or stack (Job 36:26); so "cut off," "disappear." in their place--literally, "under themselves"; so, without moving from their place, on the spot, suddenly (Job 40:12) [Maurer]. Umbreit's translation: "To ascend (which is really, as thou wilt find to thy cost, to descend) to the…Read the comment

Topics related to Job 36:20

• Death
• Watchfulness

In the dictionaries

• Ascribe
• Elihu
• Esteem
• Hang
• God

Commentaries on Job 36

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Rashi on Tanakh
• Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings