New Living Translation
Job 38:17
17Do you know where the gates of death are located? Have you seen the gates of utter gloom?
Job 38:17 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)Have the gates of death been opened unto thee? or hast thou seen the doors of the shadow of death?
- New International Version (NIV)Have the gates of death been shown to you? Have you seen the gates of the deepest darkness?
- English Standard Version (ESV)Have the gates of death been revealed to you, or have you seen the gates of deep darkness?
- New King James Version (NKJV)Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Or have you seen the doors of the shadow of death?
Context of Job 38:17
15The light disturbs the wicked and stops the arm that is raised in violence. 16“Have you explored the springs from which the seas come? Have you explored their depths? Do you know where the gates of death are located? Have you seen the gates of utter gloom? 18Do you realize the extent of the earth? Tell me about it if you know! 19“Where does light come from, and where does darkness go?
Read all of Job 38Job 38:17 word by word
הֲנִגְל֣וּ לְ֭ךָ שַׁעֲרֵי־מָ֑וֶת וְשַׁעֲרֵ֖י צַלְמָ֣וֶת תִּרְאֶֽה׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Job 38:17
- Psalms 9:13Lord, have mercy on me. See how my enemies torment me. Snatch me back from the jaws of death.
- Psalms 107:18They couldn’t stand the thought of food, and they were knocking on death’s door.
- Psalms 116:3Death wrapped its ropes around me; the terrors of the grave overtook me. I saw only trouble and sorrow.
- Job 3:5Let the darkness and utter gloom claim that day for its own. Let a black cloud overshadow it, and let the darkness terrify it.
- Job 12:22“He uncovers mysteries hidden in darkness; he brings light to the deepest gloom.
- Psalms 23:4Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me. Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me.
- Psalms 107:10Some sat in darkness and deepest gloom, imprisoned in iron chains of misery.
- Amos 5:8It is the Lord who created the stars, the Pleiades and Orion. He turns darkness into morning and day into night. He draws up water from the oceans and pours it down as rain on the land. The Lord is his name!
- Matthew 4:16the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light. And for those who lived in the land where death casts its shadow, a light has shined.”
Commentaries on Job 38:17
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 17Have the gates of death been opened unto thee? - Dost thou know in what the article of death consists? This is as inexplicable as the question, What is animal life? The doors of the shallow of death? - צלמות tsalmaveth, the intermediate state, the openings into the place of separate spirits. Here two places are distinguished: מות maveth, death, and צלמות tsalmaveth, the shadow of death. It will not do to say, death is the privation of life, for what then…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 17Have the gates of death been opened unto thee - That is, the gates of the world where death reigns; or the gates that lead to the abodes of the dead. The allusion here is to “Sheol,” or “Hades,” the dark abodes of the dead. This was supposed to be beneath the ground, and was entered by the grave, and was inclosed by gates and bars; see the notes at Job 10:21-22. The transition from the reference to the bottom of the sea to the regions of the dead was…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 12-24Verses 12-24 The Lord questions Job, to convince him of his ignorance, and shame him for his folly in prescribing to God. If we thus try ourselves, we shall soon be brought to own that what we know is nothing in comparison with what we know not. By the tender mercy of our God, the Day-spring from on high has visited us, to give light to those that sit in darkness, whose hearts are turned to it as clay to the seal, 2Co 4:6. God's way in the government of…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 1-41God challenges Job. Job admits he cannot judge the moral world. God shows Job's ignorance of the natural world's elements related to the realm of heaven, weather, animals, and birds (38:4–21; 22–38; 39–39:30).Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1717. seen--The second clause heightens the thought in the first. Man during life does not even "see" the gates of the realm of the dead ("death," Job 10:21); much less are they "opened" to him. But those are "naked before God" (Job 26:6).Read the comment
Topics related to Job 38:17
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Job 38
- 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
- EGW Writings
New Living Translation — © 1996, 2004, 2015 Tyndale House Foundation
Commentaries