to extirpate (literally or figuratively) · verb, niphal perfect, 1st person common singular
before
מִפְּנֵיmi.pe.nei-
H6440
the face (as the part that turns) · preposition + noun, common masculine plural construct
darkness
חֹ֑שֶׁךְCho.shekh
H2822
the dark · noun, common masculine singular absolute
covered
כִּסָּהki.sah-
H3680
properly · verb, piel perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
darkness
אֹֽפֶל'O.fel
H652
dusk · noun, common masculine singular absolute
face
וּ֝מִפָּנַ֗יu.mi.pa.Nai
H6440
the face (as the part that turns) · conjunction + preposition + noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix
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 19:8 He hath fenced up my way that I cannot pass, and he hath set darkness in my paths.
Isaiah 57:1 The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart: and merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away f…
2 Kings 22:20 Behold therefore, I will gather thee unto thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered into thy grave in peace; and thine eyes shall not see all…
Job 6:9 Even that it would please God to destroy me; that he would let loose his hand, and cut me off!
Job 15:22 He believeth not that he shall return out of darkness, and he is waited for of the sword.
Job 18:6 The light shall be dark in his tabernacle, and his candle shall be put out with him.
Job 18:18 He shall be driven from light into darkness, and chased out of the world.
Job 22:11 Or darkness, that thou canst not see; and abundance of waters cover thee.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Job 23:13–end
Some make Job to complain here that God dealt unjustly and unfairly with him in proceeding to punish him without the least relenting or relaxation, though he had such incontestable evidences to produce of his innocency. I am loth to think holy Job would charge the holy God with iniquity; but his complaint is indeed bitter and peevish, and he reasons himself into a sort of patience per force, which he cannot do without reflecting upon God as dealing hardly with him, but he must bear it because he cannot help it; the worst he says is that God deals unaccountably with him.
I. He lays down good truths, and truths which were capable of a good improvement, Job 23:13, Job 23:14. 1. That God's couns…
Because I was not taken away by death from the evil to come (literally, "from before the face of the darkness," Isa 57:1). Alluding to the words of Eliphaz (Job 22:11), "darkness," that is, calamity.
cut off--rather, in the Arabic sense, brought to the land of silence; my sad complaint hushed in death [UMBREIT]. "Darkness" in the second clause, not the same Hebrew word as in the first, "cloud," "obscurity." Instead of "covering the cloud (of evil) from my face," He "covers" me with it (Job 22:11).
Next: Job Chapter 24
John Gill on Job 23:17
Because I was not cut off before the darkness,.... That is, it was amazing to him, and troubled him when he thought of it, that he was not cut off by death, before the darkness of afflictions, or this dark dispensation came upon him; as sometimes righteous ones are taken from the evil to come, as Methuselah was before the flood, Genesis 5:27; and Job wonders this was not his case, or at least he wishes it had been; for so Aben Ezra seems to understand and read the words, "why was I not cut off?" &c. as if it was a wish, and expressive of his desire, that this had been done; which was what he had expostulated with God about at first, in the third chapter, and death was what he always desired,…
Because I have not perished on account of the overhanging darkness; neither hath the darkness covered my face. For he, being set under the scourge, dies off from the health of the body 'on account of the overhanging darkness,' who is for this reason smitten for the past that he may be shielded from future punishments. For scourges inflicted on the good either wipe out evil things done, or parry off future ones which might have been done. But blessed Job, forasmuch as when set under the rod he was neither purified from foregoing sins nor shielded from those that threatened, but only had his goodness increased under the stroke, says with confidence, Because I have not perished on account of the overhanging darkness, neither hath the darkness covered my face. For he that always had before his eyes the weight of divine dread, the face of his heart the darkness of sin never covered. And he whom no punishments followed, did not lose the health of the body 'on account of the overhanging darkness.' And it is to be noted, that in his own person telling what had gone before, he never says 'neither hath darkness touched my face,' but 'neither hath darkness covered my face;' for often even the hearts of the righteous do thoughts arising defile, and affect them with the gratifications of things earthly, but whereas they are speedily put away by the hand of holy discretion, it is quickly brought to pass that darkness should not cover the face of the heart, which was already touching it by unlawful enjoyment; for often in the very sacrifice of prayer urgent thoughts press themselves on us, that they should have force to carry off or pollute what we are sacrificing in ourselves to God with weeping eyes. Whence when Abraham at sunset was offering up the sacrifice, he was subject to birds setting on, which he diligently drove away, that they might not carry off the sacrifice which had been offered. So let us, when we offer to God a holocaust upon the altar of our hearts, keep it from unclean birds, that the evil spirits and bad thoughts may not seize upon that which our mind hopes that it is offering up to God to a good end.
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
Darkness · Illustrative of: Heavy afflictions — Illustrative of: Heavy afflictions
Doubting · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
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).
Keil & Delitzsch on Job 23:14–end
14 For He accomplisheth that which is appointed for me,
And much of a like kind is with Him.
15 Therefore I am troubled at His presence;
If I consider it, I am afraid of Him.
16 And God hath caused my heart to be dejected,
And the Almighty hath put me to confusion;
17 For I have not been destroyed before darkness,
And before my countenance, which thick darkness covereth.
Now it is the will of God, the absolute, which has all at once turned against him, the innocent (Job 23:13); for what He has decreed against him (חקּי) He also brings to a complete fulfilment (השׁלים, as e.g., Isa 44:26); and the same troubles as those which he already suffers, God has still more abundantly decreed for him,…
terrified in his presence: See Pss 77:3; 88:16; 119:120. • Job had complained earlier of being plunged into darkness (Job 19:8); Eliphaz (15:22; 22:1) and Bildad (18:6, 18) ascribed this fate to the wicked.
Rashi on Job 23:17
Because I was not cut off from before the darkness Because of this I am startled; because I was not completely cut off and laid permanently in the grave before this darkness that has come upon me, and because He did not cover this thick darkness from before me until my death.
and [because He did not] cover the thick darkness from before me This refers back to “because not” at the beginning of the verse.
