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

Context of Job 36:20

18Because there is wrath, beware lest He take you away with one blow; For a large ransom would not help you avoid it. 19Will your riches, Or all the mighty forces, Keep you from distress? Do not desire the night, When people are cut off in their place. 21Take heed, do not turn to iniquity, For you have chosen this rather than affliction. 22“Behold, God is exalted by His power; Who teaches 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 him who is in misery, And life to the bitter of soul,
• Job 6:9That it would please God to crush me, That He would loose His hand and cut me off!
• Job 7:15So that my soul chooses strangling And death rather than my body.
• Job 14:13“Oh, that You would hide me in the grave, That You would conceal me until Your wrath is past, That You would appoint me a set time, and remember me!
• Job 17:13If I wait for the grave as my house, If I make my bed in the darkness,
• Exodus 12:29And it came to pass at midnight that the Lord struck 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 dungeon, and all the firstborn of livestock.
• 2 Kings 19:35And it came to pass on a certain night that the angel of the Lord went out, and killed in the camp of the Assyrians one hundred and eighty-five thousand; and when people arose early in the morning, there were the corpses—all dead.
• Proverbs 14:32The wicked is banished in his wickedness, But the righteous has a refuge in his death.
• Ecclesiastes 11:3If the clouds are full of rain, They empty themselves upon the earth; And if a tree falls to the south or the north, In the place where the tree falls, there it shall lie.
• Daniel 5:30That very night Belshazzar, king of the Chaldeans, was slain.
• Luke 12:20But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’
• Acts 1:25to take part in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place.”
• 1 Thessalonians 5:2For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes 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