to turn off (literal or figurative) · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
darkness
חֹ֗שֶׁךְCho.shekh
H2822
the dark · noun, common masculine singular absolute
flame
שַׁלְהָ֑בֶתshal.Ha.vet
H7957
a flare of fire · noun, common feminine singular absolute
up
תְּיַבֵּ֣שׁte.ya.Besh
H3001
to be ashamed · verb, piel imperfect, 3rd person feminine singular
branches
יֹֽ֭נַקְתּוֹyo.nak.to
H3127
a sprout · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
breath
בְּר֣וּחַbe.Ru.ach
H7307
wind · preposition + noun, common feminine singular construct
mouth
פִּֽיוPiv
H6310
the mouth (as the means of blowing) · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
away
וְ֝יָס֗וּרve.ya.Sur
H5493
to turn off (literal or figurative) · conjunction + verb, qal, 3rd person masculine singular
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Job 4:9 By the blast of God they perish, and by the breath of his nostrils are they consumed.
Job 15:22 He believeth not that he shall return out of darkness, and he is waited for of the sword.
Job 18:5-6 Yea, the light of the wicked shall be put out, and the spark of his fire shall not shine.
Job 20:26 All darkness shall be hid in his secret places: a fire not blown shall consume him; it shall go ill with him that is left in his tabernacle.
Matthew 25:41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
Job 5:14 They meet with darkness in the daytime, and grope in the noonday as in the night.
Job 10:21-22 Before I go whence I shall not return, even to the land of darkness and the shadow of death;
Job 18:18 He shall be driven from light into darkness, and chased out of the world.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Job 15:17–end
Eliphaz, having reproved Job for his answers, here comes to maintain his own thesis, upon which he built his censure of Job. His opinion is that those who are wicked are certainly miserable, whence he would infer that those who are miserable are certainly wicked, and that therefore Job was so. Observe,
I. His solemn preface to this discourse, in which he bespeaks Job's attention, which he had little reason to expect, he having given so little heed to and put so little value upon what Job had said (Job 15:17): "I will show thee that which is worth hearing, and not reason, as thou dost, with unprofitable talk." Thus apt are men, when they condemn the reasonings of others, to commend their own.…
depart--that is, escape (Job 15:22-23).
branches--namely, his offspring (Job 1:18-19; Psa 37:35).
dry up--The "flame" is the sultry wind in the East by which plants most full of sap are suddenly shrivelled.
his mouth--that is, God's wrath (Isa 11:4).
John Gill on Job 15:30
He shall not depart out of darkness,.... Out of the darkness of poverty, calamity, and distress he comes into, and, indeed, he despairs of it himself, as in Job 15:22; and in a spiritual sense he departs not out of the darkness of sin, out of the dark state of unregeneracy; nor will he depart out of the blackness and darkness reserved for him hereafter, when he is once come into it:
the flame shall dry up his branches; alluding either to a violent drought and heat, which dries up pastures, herbs, and trees, and the branches of them; or to a wind, as the Septuagint, a burning wind, in the eastern countries, which consumed all green things; or to a flash of lightning, which shatters, strips,…
25 Because he stretched out his hand against God,
And was insolent towards the Almighty;
26 He assailed Him with a stiff neck,
With the thick bosses of his shield;
27 Because he covered his face with his fatness,
And addeth fat to his loins,
28 And inhabited desolated cities,
Houses which should not be inhabited,
Which were appointed to be ruins.
29 He shall not be rich, and his substance shall not continue
And their substance boweth not to the ground.
30 He escapeth not darkness;
The flame withereth his shoots;
And he perisheth in the breath of His mouth.
This strophe has periodic members: Job 15:25-28 an antecedent clause with a double beginning (כּי־נטה because he has stretched out, כּי־כ…
The Church Fathers
Ver. 30. He shall not depart out of darkness. If this proud man had been minded to turn back from sin to righteousness, he might 'depart out of darkness.' But because he seeks not the light of righteousness, he does not depart out of darkness. After whose example, those likewise, who 'attach themselves to him out breathe themselves in making earthly advancements, are kindled with the torches of avarice, and scorched with the fires of carnal desires. And hence it is added, The flame shall dry up his branches. For if he united to himself any that were searching after the Eternal Country, he would have green 'branches' in himself. But because they that are joined to him, are also heated with earthly passions, and the flame of passions kindles the hearts of his followers, it doth surely 'dry up his branches,' that they should not bear the fruit of good works, seeing that for the chace after the lowest objects they pant in wickedness. And it is well added, And by the breath of his mouth shall he be taken away. For the proud man, in proportion as he is more strong in this life, the more shamelessly lets loose for himself the reins of his tongue, so as to utter bad things of every sort, to apprehend no man for his words, to wound these with insults, to cast at those with curses. But sometimes he is carried away into blasphemy against his Creator, as it is said by the Psalmist of such persons, They set their mouths against the heavens, and their tongue walketh through the earth. And hence the rich man, being set in the fire, implores to have water dropped for him on his tongue by the finger of Lazarus. By which circumstance it is perceived that in that part where a man has sinned most, there he was the more fiercely burned. Therefore it is rightly said now, And by the breath of his mouth shall he go away; in that he received sentence of smiting, in proportion as he did not restrain the breath of his mouth under the fear of God.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Breath · Of God — Of God
Fire · Characterised as: Drying — Characterised as: Drying
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
The burning sun (literally The flame) might be the scorching sun or a flame of judgment from God (15:34, see Num 16:31-35; Ps 106:17-18; Ezek 20:47). • The breath of God might be a desert wind or a more direct theophany (a manifestation of God’s presence) that caused the burning of Job 15:34.
Rashi on Job 15:30
and he will turn away from the world.
by the breath of His mouth Of the Ruler of the world. This is an ellipsis, Others interpret this to mean: because of the breath of his mouth that was guilty of speaking lies.
