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.
• 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.
• New Living Translation (NLT)Do not long for the cover of night, for that is when people will be destroyed.

Context of Job 36:20

18Be careful that no one entices you by riches; do not let a large bribe turn you aside. 19Would your wealth or even all your mighty efforts sustain you so you would not be in distress? Do not long for the night, to drag people away from their homes. 21Beware of turning to evil, which you seem to prefer to affliction. 22“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 is light given to those in misery, and life to the bitter of soul,
• Job 6:9that God would be willing to crush me, to let loose his hand and cut off my life!
• Job 7:15so that I prefer strangling and death, rather than this body of mine.
• Job 14:13“If only you would hide me in the grave and conceal me till your anger has passed! If only you would set me a time and then remember me!
• Job 17:13If the only home I hope for is the grave, if I spread out my bed in the realm of darkness,
• Exodus 12:29At midnight the Lord struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on the throne, to the firstborn of the prisoner, who was in the dungeon, and the firstborn of all the livestock as well.
• 2 Kings 19:35That night the angel of the Lord went out and put to death a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the Assyrian camp. When the people got up the next morning—there were all the dead bodies!
• Proverbs 14:32When calamity comes, the wicked are brought down, but even in death the righteous seek refuge in God.
• Ecclesiastes 11:3If clouds are full of water, they pour rain on the earth. Whether a tree falls to the south or to the north, in the place where it falls, there it will lie.
• Daniel 5:30That very night Belshazzar, king of the Babylonians, was slain,
• Luke 12:20“But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’
• Acts 1:25to take over this apostolic ministry, which Judas left to go where he belongs.”
• 1 Thessalonians 5:2for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like 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