Job 3 · Verse 5

Job 3:5

Let darkness and the shadow of death stain it; let a cloud dwell upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it.

Job 3:5, King James Version

Job 3:5 in other translations

BSB	May darkness and gloom reclaim it, and a cloud settle over it; may the blackness of the day overwhelm it.
WEB	Let darkness and the shadow of death claim it for their own. Let a cloud dwell on it. Let all that makes the day black terrify it.
ASV	Let darkness and the shadow of death claim it for their own; Let a cloud dwell upon it; Let all that maketh black the day terrify it.
YLT	Let darkness and death-shade redeem it, Let a cloud tabernacle upon it, Let them terrify it as the most bitter of days.
DARBY	Let darkness and the shadow of death claim it; let clouds dwell upon it; let darkeners of the day terrify it.
BBE	Let the dark and the black night take it for themselves; let it be covered with a cloud; let the dark shades of day send fear on it.
Webster	Let darkness and the shades of death stain it; let a cloud dwell upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it.

What does Job 3:5 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown

5. Let ... the shadow of death--("deepest darkness," Is 9:2). stain it--This is a later sense of the verb [Gesenius]; better the old and more poetic idea, "Let darkness (the ancient night of chaotic gloom) resume its rights over light (Ge 1:2), and claim that day as its own." a cloud--collectively, a gathered mass of dark clouds. the blackness of the day terrify it--literally, "the obscurations"; whatever darkens the day [Gesenius]. The verb in Hebrew expresses sudden terrifying. May it be suddenly affrighted at its own darkness. Umbreit explains it as "magical incantations that darken the day," forming the climax to the previous clauses; Job 3:8 speaks of "cursers of the day" similarly. But the former view is simpler. Others refer it to the poisonous simoom wind.

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary

Verse 5 Let darkness and the shadow of death stain it - יגאלהו yigaluhu, "pollute or avenge it," from גאל gaal, to vindicate, avenge, etc.; hence גאל goel, the nearest of kin, whose right it was to redeem an inheritance, and avenge the death of his relative by slaying the murderer. Let this day be pursued, overtaken, and destroyed. Let natural darkness, the total privation of the solar light, rendered still more intense by death's shadow projected over it, seize on and destroy this day, εκλαβοι αυτην, Septuagint; alluding, perhaps, says Mr. Parkhurst, to the avenger of blood seizing the offender. Let a cloud dwell upon it - Let the dymme cloude fall upon it - Coverdale. Let the thickest clouds have there their dwelling-place - let that be the period of time on which they shall constantly rest, and never be dispersed. This seems to be the import of the original, תשכן עליו אננה tishcan alaiv ananah. Let it be the place in which clouds shall be continually gathered together, so as to be the storehouse of the densest vapors, still in the act of being increasingly condensed. Let the blackness of the day terrify it - And let it be lapped in with sorrowe. - Coverdale. This is very expressive: lap signifies to fold up, or envelope any particular thing with fold upon fold, so as to cover it everywhere and secure it in all points. Leaving out the semicolon, we had better translate the whole clause thus: "Let the thickest cloud have its dwelling-place upon it, and let the bitterness of a day fill it with terror." A day similar to that, says the Targum, in which Jeremiah was distressed for the destruction of the house of the sanctuary; or like that in which Jonah was cast into the sea of Tarsis; such a day as that on which some great or national misfortune has happened: probably in allusion to that in which the darkness that might be felt enveloped the whole land of Egypt, and the night in which the destroying angel slew all the first-born in the land.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Job 3:1-10

For seven days Job's friends sat by him in silence, without offering consolidation: at the same time Satan assaulted his mind to shake his confidence, and to fill him with hard thoughts of God. The permission seems to have extended to this, as well as to torturing the body. Job was an especial type of Christ, whose inward sufferings, both in the garden and on the cross, were the most dreadful; and arose in a great…

Read the full comment on Job 3:1-10 →

Job 3:5 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

יִגְאָלֻ֡הוּyig.'a.Lu.hulet them reclaim itH1350

חֹ֣שֶׁךְCho.shekhdarknessH2822

וְ֭צַלְמָוֶתVe.tzal.ma.vetand deep darknessH6757

תִּשְׁכָּן\־tish.kon-let it settle downH7931

עָלָ֣יו'a.Lavover itH5921

עֲנָנָ֑ה'a.na.NahcloudH6053

יְ֝בַעֲתֻ֗הוּye.va.'a.Tu.hulet them terrify itH1204

כִּֽמְרִ֥ירֵיkim.Ri.rei[the] darkness<es> ofH3650

יֽוֹם\׃YomdayH3117

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Job 3:5

Job 10:21-22
Before I go whence I shall not return, even to the land of darkness and the shadow of death; A land of darkness, as darkness itself; and of the shadow of death, without any order, and where the light is as darkness.
Job 28:3
He setteth an end to darkness, and searcheth out all perfection: the stones of darkness, and the shadow of death.
Jeremiah 2:6
Neither said they, Where is the Lord that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, that led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and of pits, through a land of drought, and of the shadow of death, through a land that no man passed through, and where no man dwelt?
Psalms 23:4
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
Psalms 107:14
He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and brake their bands in sunder.
Jeremiah 4:28
For this shall the earth mourn, and the heavens above be black: because I have spoken it, I have purposed it, and will not repent, neither will I turn back from it.
Deuteronomy 4:11
And ye came near and stood under the mountain; and the mountain burned with fire unto the midst of heaven, with darkness, clouds, and thick darkness.
Isaiah 9:2
The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.
Ezekiel 34:12
As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day.
Jeremiah 13:16
Give glory to the Lord your God, before he cause darkness, and before your feet stumble upon the dark mountains, and, while ye look for light, he turn it into the shadow of death, and make it gross darkness.
Psalms 107:10
Such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron;
Luke 1:79
To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

the shadow.
10:21,22; 16:16; 24:17; 28:3; 38:17; Ps 23:4; 44:19; 107:10,14
Isa 9:2; Jer 2:6; 13:16; Am 5:8; Mt 4:16; Lu 1:79
stain it. or, challenge it. let a cloud.
De 4:11; Eze 30:3; 34:12; Joe 2:2; Heb 12:18
let the blackness. or, let them terrify it, as those whohave a bitter day.
Jer 4:28; Am 8:10

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

Job 3:4
Let that day be darkness; let not God regard it from above, neither let the light shine upon it.
Job 3:5
Let darkness and the shadow of death stain it; let a cloud dwell upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it.
Job 3:6
As for that night, let darkness seize upon it; let it not be joined unto the days of the year, let it not come into the number of the months.

Read all of Job 3

Job 3:5 in other languages

Spanish Reina-Valera 1909	Aféenlo tinieblas y sombra de muerte; repose sobre él nublado, que lo haga horrible como caliginoso día.
French Bible J.N. Darby 1885	Que les ténèbres et l’ombre de la mort le réclament; que les nuées demeurent sur lui; que ce qui assombrit les jours le terrifie!
German Elberfelder 1871	Finsternis und Todesschatten mögen ihn einlösen, Gewölk lagere sich über ihm, es schrecken ihn Tagesverfinsterungen!
Latin Clementine Vulgate	Obscurent eum tenebræ et umbra mortis; occupet eum caligo, et involvatur amaritudine.