Job 10:22

"before I go where I will not return from, to the land of darkness and of the shadow of death;"

Key Reflection

In Job 10:22, Job speaks of his own mortality, envisioning a land of darkness and shadows as his final destination—a place of utter despair and cessation from life. To the original audience, this imagery would have evoked the concept of Sheol, the underworld realm where all souls went after death, symbolizing both physical death and spiritual separation from God.

From the Scholars: Barnes' Notes

A land of darkness -The word used here (עיפה‛êyphâh) is different from that rendered “darkness”השׁךchôshekin the previous verse. That is the common word to denote darkness; this seldom occurs. It is derived fromעוּף‛ûph, to fly; and then to cover as with wings; and hence, the noun means that which is shaded or dark;Amos 4:13; compareJob 17:13;Isaiah 8:22;Isaiah 9:1. As darkness itself -This is still another wordאפל'ôphelthough in our common version but one term is used. We have not the means in our language of marking different degrees of obscurity with the accuracy with which the Hebrews did it.

More from Job 10

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23

Go deeper with Bible.talk - your AI Bible study companion