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 careful that no one entices you with riches; do not let a large bribe turn you aside. 19Would your wealth sustain you, so that you would not be in distress, even all your mighty efforts? Do not long for the cover of night to drag people away from their homes. 21Take heed, do not turn to evil, for because of this you have been tested by affliction. 22Indeed, God is exalted in his power; who is a teacher like him?

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 3:20“Why does God give light to one who is in misery, and life to those whose soul is bitter,
• Job 6:9And that God would be willing to crush me, that he would let loose his hand and kill me.
• Job 7:15so that I would prefer strangling, and death more than life.
• Job 14:13“O that you would hide me in Sheol, and conceal me till your anger has passed! O that you would set me a time and then remember me!
• Job 17:13If I hope for the grave to be my home, if I spread out my bed in darkness,
• Exodus 12:29It happened at midnight – the Lord attacked all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the prison, and all the firstborn of the cattle.
• 2 Kings 19:35That very night the Lord’s messenger went out and killed 185,000 men in the Assyrian camp. When they got up early the next morning, there were all the corpses.
• Proverbs 14:32The wicked will be thrown down in his trouble, but the righteous have refuge even in the threat of death.
• Ecclesiastes 11:3If the clouds are full of rain, they will empty themselves on the earth, and whether a tree falls to the south or to the north, the tree will lie wherever it falls.
• Daniel 5:30And in that very night Belshazzar, the Babylonian king, was killed.
• Luke 12:20But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded back from you, but who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’
• Acts 1:25to assume the task of this service and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.”
• 1 Thessalonians 5:2For you know quite well that the day of the Lord will come in the same way 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