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

18Be very careful! Do not let anyone use their riches to deceive you. Do not let them pay you a lot of money to do something that is wrong. 19Even if you become rich, that would not keep you safe. Even if you were strong and powerful, that would not keep trouble away from you. Do not wait for the night to hide what you want to do. That is the time when people disappear from their homes. 21Be careful! Do not try to do wicked things. God has sent these troubles to test you. He wants to stop you doing evil things. 22Yes, God is very powerful. There is no teacher as good as he is.

Job 36:20 word by word

אַל־תִּשְׁאַ֥ף הַלָּ֑יְלָה לַעֲל֖וֹת עַמִּ֣ים תַּחְתָּֽם׃Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• Desireשָׁאַףshâ'aph · to long forH7602
• not the nightלַ֫יְלָהlayil lêyl layelâh · nightH3915
• when peopleעַם‛am · peopleH5971
• are cut offעָלָה‛âlâh · to ascend: riseH5927

Cross-references for Job 36:20

• Job 3:20I am suffering very much. Why does God let me wake up each day? I am very upset, so why does God continue to let me live?
• Job 6:9I would like him to destroy me. He should kill me himself.
• Job 7:15I would like someone to stop me breathing! Death would be better than life.
• Job 14:13Please hide me in the place where dead people go! Hide me there until you are no longer angry. Decide how long I must be there, and then remember me again!
• Job 17:13The only home that I hope to go to is my grave. I will lie down to sleep there in the dark.
• Exodus 12:29At midnight, the Lord killed all the firstborn sons in the land of Egypt. The firstborn son of Pharaoh, the king, died. But also, the firstborn son of any man who was in prison died. Every firstborn son in Egypt died. All the firstborn animals also died.
• 2 Kings 19:35That night, the Lord's angel went to the camp of the Assyrian army. He killed 185,000 of their soldiers. When people got up in the morning, they saw all those dead bodies!
• Proverbs 14:32When wicked people are in trouble, they cannot stand. But righteous people still trust God, even when they are in danger of death.
• Ecclesiastes 11:3When clouds are full of water, rain will fall on the earth. If a tree falls to the ground, it will stay there, in the same place.
• Daniel 5:30That same night, Belshazzar, the king of the Babylonians, died. His enemies killed him.
• Luke 12:20But then God said to the man, “You are a fool! Tonight you will die. You will have to leave everything behind that you have stored. Somebody else will have them, but you will not!” ’
• Acts 1:25Which of these two men do you want to be an apostle instead of Judas? Judas left his work as an apostle. He has now gone to the place where he belongs.’
• 1 Thessalonians 5:2You know very well about how the great day of the Lord will happen. That day will surprise people very much, like when a robber comes 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