English Standard Version
Job 38:17
17Have the gates of death been revealed to you, or have you seen the gates of deep darkness?
Job 38:17 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)Have the gates of death been opened unto thee? or hast thou seen the doors of the shadow of death?
- New International Version (NIV)Have the gates of death been shown to you? Have you seen the gates of the deepest darkness?
- New King James Version (NKJV)Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Or have you seen the doors of the shadow of death?
- New Living Translation (NLT)Do you know where the gates of death are located? Have you seen the gates of utter gloom?
Context of Job 38:17
15From the wicked their light is withheld, and their uplifted arm is broken. 16"Have you entered into the springs of the sea, or walked in the recesses of the deep? Have the gates of death been revealed to you, or have you seen the gates of deep darkness? 18Have you comprehended the expanse of the earth? Declare, if you know all this. 19"Where is the way to the dwelling of light, and where is the place of darkness,
Read all of Job 38Job 38:17 word by word
הֲנִגְל֣וּ לְ֭ךָ שַׁעֲרֵי־מָ֑וֶת וְשַׁעֲרֵ֖י צַלְמָ֣וֶת תִּרְאֶֽה׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Job 38:17
- Psalms 9:13Be gracious to me, O Lord! See my affliction from those who hate me, O you who lift me up from the gates of death,
- Psalms 107:18they loathed any kind of food, and they drew near to the gates of death.
- Psalms 116:3The snares of death encompassed me; the pangs of Sheol laid hold on me; I suffered distress and anguish.
- Job 3:5Let gloom and deep darkness claim it. Let clouds dwell upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it.
- Job 12:22He uncovers the deeps out of darkness and brings deep darkness to light.
- Psalms 23:4Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
- Psalms 107:10Some sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, prisoners in affliction and in irons,
- Amos 5:8He who made the Pleiades and Orion, and turns deep darkness into the morning and darkens the day into night, who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out on the surface of the earth, the Lord is his name;
- Matthew 4:16the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned."
Commentaries on Job 38:17
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 17Have the gates of death been opened unto thee? - Dost thou know in what the article of death consists? This is as inexplicable as the question, What is animal life? The doors of the shallow of death? - צלמות tsalmaveth, the intermediate state, the openings into the place of separate spirits. Here two places are distinguished: מות maveth, death, and צלמות tsalmaveth, the shadow of death. It will not do to say, death is the privation of life, for what then…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 17Have the gates of death been opened unto thee - That is, the gates of the world where death reigns; or the gates that lead to the abodes of the dead. The allusion here is to “Sheol,” or “Hades,” the dark abodes of the dead. This was supposed to be beneath the ground, and was entered by the grave, and was inclosed by gates and bars; see the notes at Job 10:21-22. The transition from the reference to the bottom of the sea to the regions of the dead was…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 12-24Verses 12-24 The Lord questions Job, to convince him of his ignorance, and shame him for his folly in prescribing to God. If we thus try ourselves, we shall soon be brought to own that what we know is nothing in comparison with what we know not. By the tender mercy of our God, the Day-spring from on high has visited us, to give light to those that sit in darkness, whose hearts are turned to it as clay to the seal, 2Co 4:6. God's way in the government of…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 1-41God challenges Job. Job admits he cannot judge the moral world. God shows Job's ignorance of the natural world's elements related to the realm of heaven, weather, animals, and birds (38:4–21; 22–38; 39–39:30).Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1717. seen--The second clause heightens the thought in the first. Man during life does not even "see" the gates of the realm of the dead ("death," Job 10:21); much less are they "opened" to him. But those are "naked before God" (Job 26:6).Read the comment
Topics related to Job 38:17
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Job 38
- 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
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
English Standard Version — © 2001 Crossway Bibles
Commentaries