God’s Word Translation
Job 15:23
23He wanders around for food and asks, ‘Where is it?’ He knows that his ruin is close at hand.
Job 15:23 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)He wandereth abroad for bread, saying, Where is it? he knoweth that the day of darkness is ready at his hand.
- New International Version (NIV)He wanders about for food like a vulture; he knows the day of darkness is at hand.
- English Standard Version (ESV)He wanders abroad for bread, saying, 'Where is it?' He knows that a day of darkness is ready at his hand;
- New King James Version (NKJV)He wanders about for bread, saying, ‘Where is it?’ He knows that a day of darkness is ready at his hand.
Context of Job 15:23
21Terrifying sounds are in his ears. While he enjoys peace, the destroyer comes to him. 22He doesn’t believe he’ll return from the dark. He is destined ⌞to be killed⌟ with a sword. He wanders around for food and asks, ‘Where is it?’ He knows that his ruin is close at hand. 24“The day of darkness troubles him. Distress and anguish terrify him like a king ready for battle. 25He stretches out his hand against God and attacks the Almighty like a warrior.
Read all of Job 15Job 15:23 word by word
נֹ֘דֵ֤ד ה֣וּא לַלֶּ֣חֶם אַיֵּ֑ה יָדַ֓ע׀ כִּֽי־נָכ֖וֹן בְּיָד֣וֹ יֽוֹם־חֹֽשֶׁךְ׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Job 15:23
- Job 30:3Shriveled up from need and hunger, they gnaw at the dry and barren ground during the night.
- Genesis 4:12When you farm the ground, it will no longer yield its best for you. You will be a fugitive, a wanderer on the earth.”
- Psalms 59:15They wander around to find something to eat. If they are not full enough, they will stay all night.
- Psalms 109:10Let his children wander around and beg. Let them seek help far from their ruined homes.
- Lamentations 5:6We had to beg Egypt and Assyria for food.
- Hebrews 11:37Some were stoned to death, sawed in half, and killed with swords. Some wore the skins of sheep and goats. Some were poor, abused, and mistreated.
- Job 18:5“Indeed, the light of the wicked is snuffed out. The flame of his fire stops glowing.
- Ecclesiastes 11:8Even though people may live for many years, they should enjoy every one of them. But they should also remember there will be many dark days. Everything that is coming is pointless.
- Joel 2:2It is a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and overcast skies. A large and mighty army will spread over the mountains like the dawn. Nothing like this has ever happened. Nothing like this will ever happen again.
- Amos 5:20The day of the Lord brings darkness and not light. It is pitch black, with no light.
- Zephaniah 1:15That day will be a day of overflowing fury, a day of trouble and distress, a day of devastation and desolation, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and overcast skies,
- Hebrews 10:27All that is left is a terrifying wait for judgment and a raging fire that will consume God’s enemies.
Commentaries on Job 15:23
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 23He wandereth abroad for bread - He is reduced to a state of the utmost indigence, he who was once in affluence requires a morsel of bread, and can scarcely by begging procure enough to sustain life. Is ready at his hand - Is בידו beyado, in his hand - in his possession. As he cannot get bread, he must soon meet death.Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 23He wandereth abroad for bread - The Septuagint renders this, “he is destined to be food for vultures” - ́ ̀ ̓ ͂ ́ katatetaktai de eis sitos gupsin The meaning of the Hebrew is, simply, that he will be reduced to poverty, and will not know where to obtain a supply for his returning needs. He knoweth that the day of darkness is ready at his hand - He is assured that the period of calamity is not far remote. It must come. He has no security that it will not…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 17-35Verses 17-35 Eliphaz maintains that the wicked are certainly miserable: whence he would infer, that the miserable are certainly wicked, and therefore Job was so. But because many of God's people have prospered in this world, it does not therefore follow that those who are crossed and made poor, as Job, are not God's people. Eliphaz shows also that wicked people, particularly oppressors, are subject to continual terror, live very uncomfortably, and perish…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 23Like evil people, Job may have experienced hunger. Or, following the ancient Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), the Berean Standard Bible says Job "wanders about as food for vultures.” This would be similar to being “marked for the sword” (15:22).Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 2323. Wandereth in anxious search for bread. Famine in Old Testament depicts sore need (Is 5:13). Contrast the pious man's lot (Job 5:20-22). knoweth--has the firm conviction. Contrast the same word applied to the pious (Job 5:24, 25). ready at his hand--an Arabic phrase to denote a thing's complete readiness and full presence, as if in the hand.Read the comment
Topics related to Job 15:23
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Job 15
- 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
God’s Word Translation — © 1995 God’s Word to the Nations Bible Society
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