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

18But watch out, or you may be seduced by wealth. Don’t let yourself be bribed into sin. 19Could all your wealth or all your mighty efforts keep you from distress? Do not long for the cover of night, for that is when people will be destroyed. 21Be on guard! Turn back from evil, for God sent this suffering to keep you from a life of evil. 22“Look, God is all-powerful. 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“Oh, why give light to those in misery, and life to those who are bitter?
• Job 6:9I wish he would crush me. I wish he would reach out his hand and kill me.
• Job 7:15I would rather be strangled— rather die than suffer like this.
• Job 14:13“I wish you would hide me in the grave and forget me there until your anger has passed. But mark your calendar to think of me again!
• Job 17:13What if I go to the grave and make my bed in darkness?
• Exodus 12:29And that night at midnight, the Lord struck down all the firstborn sons in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn son of Pharaoh, who sat on his throne, to the firstborn son of the prisoner in the dungeon. Even the firstborn of their livestock were killed.
• 2 Kings 19:35That night the angel of the Lord went out to the Assyrian camp and killed 185,000 Assyrian soldiers. When the surviving Assyrians woke up the next morning, they found corpses everywhere.
• Proverbs 14:32The wicked are crushed by disaster, but the godly have a refuge when they die.
• Ecclesiastes 11:3When clouds are heavy, the rains come down. Whether a tree falls north or south, it stays where it falls.
• Daniel 5:30That very night Belshazzar, the Babylonian king, was killed.
• Luke 12:20“But God said to him, ‘You fool! You will die this very night. Then who will get everything you worked for?’
• Acts 1:25as an apostle to replace Judas in this ministry, for he has deserted us and gone where he belongs.”
• 1 Thessalonians 5:2For you know quite well that the day of the Lord’s return will come unexpectedly, 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