Job 34:22

Job 34:22 [There is] no darkness, nor shadow of death, where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves.

Ver. 22. There is no darkness, nor shadow of death, &c.] Sinners would fain shroud and secrete themselves from God’s all seeing eye; for which end they search all corners, with Adam, and hope that their evil pranks and practices shall never come to light; but that cannot be, for not only darkness and the shadow of death, but hell also, is naked before him, and destruction hath no covering, Job 26:6; {See Trapp on "Job 26:6"} See also Psa 139:12 Amo 9:2-3 Heb 4:13. {See Trapp on "Psa 139:12"} {See Trapp on "Amo 9:2"} {See Trapp on "Amo 9:3"} {See Trapp on "Heb 4:13"}

Where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves] Either from God’s all seeing eye, or punishing hand. Adam is pulled out of the thicket; Manasseh from among the thorns; Zedekiah and his family from between the two walls; many Jews out of the privies and other lurking holes where they lay hidden, at the last destruction of Jerusalem.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Job 34:22-23. There is no darkness, &c. — The workers of iniquity may flatter themselves, or deceive others, by covering their wicked actions with plausible pretences and professions, but they cannot deceive God, nor conceal their ways or hearts from his inspection. He will not lay upon man more than right — More or heavier punishments than they deserve, or than are proportionable to their sins, which he accurately observes, and therefore can adapt punishments to them; that he should enter into judgment, &c. — Thereby to give him any pretence or occasion of entering into judgment with him, or of condemning his proceedings, for which there might seem to be some colour, if God did lay upon man more than is right.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

34:22 The wicked might try to hide in darkness (Jer 23:24), but they will fail (Ps 139:11-12; cp. Amos 9:2-3). God brings everything to light (1 Cor 4:5).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

shadow of death--thick darkness (Amo 9:2-3; Psa 139:12).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 22. There is no darkness] In this life; and no shadow of death in the other world-no annihilation in which the workers of iniquity may hide themselves, or take refuge.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(22) There is no darkness.—As Job had perhaps seemed to imply in Job_24:13-16.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

He shall break in pieces mighty men without number,.... Such as are mighty in bodily strength, as the giants of the old world, and such as were inhabitants of some parts of the land of Canaan; or mighty in power and authority, being kings, princes, rulers, and governors, over nations and cities; or mighty in wealth and riches, which give men power and strength; these God can and sometimes does break in pieces like potters' vessels, and even mighty kingdoms and nations themselves he will make like the chaff of the summer threshing floor: and even without number; or there have been and will be numberless instances of this kind; who can tell how many of these mighty men, men of gigantic stature, were drowned in the flood, or cut off by the sword of the Israelites in the land of Canaan? or "without search" (d) as it may be rendered; either on the part of God, who needs not any, with whom are unnecessary any formal inquiries into a cause, or examination of witnesses, in order to a judicial process against delinquents, all being naked and open before him at once; or on the part of man, with whom the ways and judgments of God are unsearchable and who ought not closely and curiously to inquire into any of his proceedings, and the causes and reasons of them, who does all things after the counsel of his own will. Mr. Broughton renders it "without end", for ever; with an everlasting destruction, an utter and irretrievable one; he so breaks them as that they never can be made whole again, like an earthen vessel that is broke to pieces and cannot be put together again;

and set others in their stead; God always provides for a succession in the world, that as when one generation goes off another comes on; when he destroyed the world with a flood, he preserved a family to replenish the earth; when the fathers of the Jewish nation, their carcasses fell in the wilderness, their children were raised up in their room to enter the good land and possess it; and particularly he provides for the civil government of the world and when he pulls down or removes one king he sets up another, and will not suffer kingdoms and states to fall into anarchy and confusion: and sometimes, when he casts down the mighty from their seats, he exalts men of low degree, as when he rejected Saul he took David from the sheepfold, Sa1 16:11; and makes such kings and kingdoms to "stand" (e) stable and firm, as the kingdom of David, and as the word here used signifies.

(d) "absque inquisitione", Beza, Mercerus; "sine investigatione", Michaelis; so Cocceius, Schultens. (e) "et stare faciet", Pagninus, Montanus, V. L. so Mercerus, Drusius, Cocceius, Schultens.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

There is no darkness - No dark cavern which can furnish a place of concealment. The guilty usually take refuge in some obscure place where people cannot detect them. But Elihu says that man has no power of concealing himself thus from God.

Nor shadow of death - A phrase here signifying deep darkness; see it explained in the notes at Job 3:5.

Where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves - That is, where they may conceal themselves so as not to be detected by God. They may conceal themselves from the notice of man; they may escape the most vigilant police; they may elude all the officers of justice on earth. But they cannot be hid from God. There is an eye that sees their lurking places, and there is a hand that will drag them forth to justice.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Death, or the most obscure recess. (Haydock)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

They may flatter themselves, or cheat others, by covering their wicked actions with plausible pretences and professions; but they cannot deceive God, nor keep their hearts and ways from his sight.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

β The unerring righteouness of the divine government is made both possible and necessary by the OMNISCIENCE OF GOD. All men, with all their deeds, are naked and open before him, and he needs no inquisition in order to form and pronounce a righteous judgment, (Job_34:21-24.) “He cannot, therefore, through ignorance, punish the innocent nor the guilty beyond their true demerit.” — Scott.

22. Shadow of death — Used here, as elsewhere, in the same association with darkness, (Job_3:5; Job_10:21; Job_28:3,) for the darkness of sheol. In all God’s creation — even in sheol — there is no veil of darkness that can hide the sinner. Deeds of darkness, like the seed of certain plants, are by nature’s ordinance winged against concealment or final destruction. The wish on the part of the evil doer to hide sin involves an acknowledgment that there is justice over the creation, and points to an everlasting contest between the Supreme will to detect and the human interest to conceal, as John Foster shows in a thoughtful discourse on this text. (Broadmead Lec.1:167-175.)

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

There is no darkness, nor shadow of death, where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves. "All things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do". (Heb_4:13) However careful wicked men may be to conceal their misdeeds by "waiting for the twilight", (Job_24:15) or doing them "in the dark", (Job_24:16) they will find it quite impossible to escape the all-seeing eye of the Almighty, which is as clear-sighted in the deepest darkness as in the brightest light ("Yea, the darkness is no darkness with thee, but the night is as clear as the day; the darkness and light to thee are both alike," Psa_139:11, Prayer-book Version).

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.