All darkness is laid up for his treasures. An unfanned fire will devour him. It will consume that which is left in his tent.
Parallel Translations
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All darkness is laid up for his treasures. An unfanned fire will devour him. It will consume that which is left in his tent.
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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.
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All darkness is laid up for his treasures; a fire not blown by man shall consume him; it shall go ill with him that is left in his tent.
Cross-references (11)
Passages linked to Job 20:26 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Psalms 21:9 You will make them as a fiery furnace in the time of your anger. Yahweh will swallow them up in his wrath. The fire shall devour them.
- Psalms 120:4 Sharp arrows of the mighty, with coals of juniper.
- Job 18:5-6 “Yes, the light of the wicked will be put out. The spark of his fire won’t shine. The light will be dark in his tent. His lamp above him will be put out.
- Job 18:18-19 He will be driven from light into darkness, and chased out of the world. He will have neither son nor grandson among his people, nor any remaining where he lived.
- Psalms 109:9-15 Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow. Let his children be wandering beggars. Let them be sought from their ruins. Let the creditor seize all that he has. Let strangers plunder the fruit of his labor. Let there be no one to extend kindness to him, neither let there be anyone to have pity on his fatherless children. Let his posterity be cut off. In the generation following let their name be blotted out. Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered by Yahweh. Don’t let the sin of his mother be blotted out. Let them be before Yahweh continually, that he may cut off their memory from the earth;
- Isaiah 8:22 and look to the earth, and see distress, darkness, and the gloom of anguish. They will be driven into thick darkness.
- Isaiah 14:20-22 You will not join them in burial, because you have destroyed your land. You have killed your people. The offspring of evildoers will not be named forever. Prepare for slaughter of his children because of the iniquity of their fathers, that they not rise up and possess the earth, and fill the surface of the world with cities. “I will rise up against them,” says Yahweh of Armies, “and cut off from Babylon name and remnant, and son and son’s son,” says Yahweh.
- Isaiah 30:33 For his burning place has long been ready. Yes, for the king it is prepared. He has made its pyre deep and large with fire and much wood. Yahweh’s breath, like a stream of sulfur, kindles it.
- Matthew 3:12 His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will thoroughly cleanse his threshing floor. He will gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn up with unquenchable fire.”
- Matthew 8:12 but the children of the Kingdom will be thrown out into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
- Jude 1:13 wild waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the blackness of darkness has been reserved forever.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (16 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain That is, fire from heaven, or the fire of…
That is, fire from heaven, or the fire of God’s wrath.
All fear and sorrow shall light upon him, when he thinketh to escape.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Job 20:26 All darkness [shall be] hid in his…
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.
Ver. 26. All darkness shall be hid in his secret places] That is, saith Diodati, wheresoever he shall think to find a place of safeguard there shall he meet with some horrible mischance. Men that are proscribed, and sought for to death, usually hide themselves, as various Jews did in privies at the last destruction of Jerusalem, and were thence drawn out to the slaughter. The duke of Buckingham, in Richard III’s time, was betrayed by his servant Bannister. Appian telleth of a Roman hid by his wife, and then exposed by his wife to the murderer, to whom she soon after also was married (De Bell. Civ. Rom.). Others render and sense the words thus, The wicked shall come into darkness, propter abscondita, for his secret sins. And others thus, All darkness is laid up for his hid treasures; that is, God or men have taken order that he shall lose his riches as well as his life, though he hide them never so secretly.
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A fire not blown shall consume him] i.e. say some, calamities whose causes shall be unknown, and shall proceed immediately from God. See Isa 30:33. Many of the Greeks interpret this text of hell, with its unquenchable fire, Mat 3:12, which being created by God, and kindled by his breath, that is, by his word, it burneth everlastingly. Albeit God many times punisheth wicked men here with fire from heaven, as he did Sodom, Nadab and Abihu, those captains of fifties with their companies, 2Ki 1:9-12 Tremellius rendereth it thus, A fire consumeth him, non accensum flatis, I say him, not kindled by blowing, but burning of his own accord, as stubble fully dried, or hurds, or sear wood, Ut stipulae aut stupae. Ut cremium aut arefactum lignum. See Nah 1:10. {See Trapp on "Nah 1:10"}
It shall go ill with him that is left] His posterity shall never prosper, but be rooted out. Eliphaz and Bildad had said the same thing; and all to pay poor Job, whose family was now ruined. It shall surely go ill with him, or, He shall be wringed, saith Broughton; alluding to the likeness of the sound as well as the sense of the Hebrew word.
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.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain All darkness, i.e. all sorts of miseries, both of…
All darkness, i.e. all sorts of miseries, both of soul, and body, and estate.
Shall be hid, or, is hid, or laid up, to wit, by God for him. This phrase may note, that though it be not actually upon him, yet it is reserved and treasured up for him, and is kept as in a sure place, and shall infallibly overtake him.
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In his secret places; either,
1. In his hid treasures, as this very word signifies, Psa 17:14. He treasures up wealth, and with God’s wrath and curse. Or,
2. In those places where he confidently hopes to hide and secure himself from all evils and enemies; yet even there God shall find him out. Or, for, or instead of, (or with, for both ways the prefix lamed is oft used,) his hid treasures.
A fire not blown, to wit, by man, but kindled by God himself, as that was, Job 1:16. He thinks by his might and violence to secure himself from men, but God by his own immediate hand, or in some unknown and unexpected manner, will find him out. Some understand it of hell-fire; of which see Isa 30:33.
With him that is left in his tabernacle, i.e. with his posterity or family, who shall inherit his curse as well as his estate.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain All darkness shall be hid in his secret places,....…
All darkness shall be hid in his secret places,.... In such places of secrecy, where he may promise himself safety, he shall find more calamities of all sorts; or every kind of judgments shall find him out, and come upon him, sometimes signified by darkness, see Isa 8:22; or utter darkness, the blackness of darkness; everlasting wrath, ruin, and destruction, are laid up and reserved in God's secret places for him, and lie hid among his treasures of vengeance, which he in due time will bring forth from thence, and punish the guilty sinner with, Jde 1:13; or all this shall be because of secret sins, as Ben Gersom interprets it; and so Mr. Broughton renders the words, "for his store"; that is, for the store of his sins, as he explains it, which, however privately and secretly committed, shall be brought into judgment; and there the hidden things of darkness will be brought to light, and sentence pass upon men for them:
a fire not blown shall consume him; not blown by man, but by God himself; which some understand of thunder and lightning, such as fell on Job's sheep and servants, and consumed them, and which may be glanced at; and others of some fiery distemper, a burning fever, hot ulcers, carbuncles, &c. such as were at this time on Job's body; but the Targum, better, of the fire of hell; and so many of the Jewish commentators (g), as well as Christian; the Septuagint version renders it, "unquenchable fire"; and so Mr. Broughton; and such the fire of hell is said to be, Mat 3:12, &c. and which is a fire kindled by the breath of the Lord, like a stream of brimstone, Isa 30:33;
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it shall go ill with him that is left in his tabernacle; not only it shall go ill with the wicked man himself, but with those he leaves behind him, that dwell in the house he formerly lived in, with his posterity; God sometimes punishing the iniquities of the fathers upon the children.
(g) Jarchi, Sephorno, and others.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Darkness - All sorts of miseries. Hid - Or,…
Darkness - All sorts of miseries. Hid - Or, laid up; by God for him. It is reserved and treasured up for him, and shall infallibly overtake him. Secret - In those places where he confidently hopes to hide himself from all evil: even there God shall find him out. Not blown - By man, but kindled by God himself. He thinks by his might and violence to secure himself from men, but God will find him out. With him - With his family, who shall inherit his curse as well as his estate.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 26. A fire not blown shall consume him]…
Verse 26. A fire not blown shall consume him] As Zophar is here showing that the wicked cannot escape from the Divine judgments; so he points out the different instruments which God employs for their destruction. The wrath of God - any secret or supernatural curse. The iron weapon - the spear or such like. The bow, and its swift-flying arrow. Darkness - deep horror and perplexity. A fire not blown - a supernatural fire; lightning: such as fell on Korah, and his company, to whose destruction there is probably here an allusion: hence the words, It shall go ill with him who is left in his tabernacle. "And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron, Separate yourselves from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment. Get ye up from about the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. Depart from the tents of these wicked men. There came out a fire from the Lord and consumed the two hundred and fifty men that offered incense;" Nu 16:20, &c.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Job 20:26. All darkness — All sorts of miseries,…
Job 20:26. All darkness — All sorts of miseries, of soul, and body, and estate; shall be hid — Or laid up by God for him. They are reserved and treasured up for him, and kept as in a sure place, and shall infallibly overtake him: in his secret places — In those places where he confidently hoped to hide and secure himself from all evils and enemies; yet even there God shall find him out. A fire not blown — By man, but kindled by God himself; shall consume or destroy him — He thinks, by his might and violence, to secure himself from men; but God, by his own immediate hand, or in some unknown and unexpected manner, will find him out. It may be understood of the fire of hell; see Isa 30:33. It shall go ill with him that is left in his tabernacle — With his family, or posterity, who shall inherit his curse, as well as his estate. Heath translates this verse, All manner of calamity is laid up in store for him: an unquenchable fire shall consume him: it shall devour all that remaineth in his stead.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain All darkness shall be hid in his secret places…
All darkness shall be hid in his secret places - The word “darkness” here, as is common, means evidently calamity. The phrase “is hid,” means is treasured up for him. The phrase “in his secret places,” may mean “for his treasures,” or instead of the great treasures which he had laid up for himself. The Apostle Paul has a similar expression, in which, perhaps, he makes an allusion to this place. Rom 2:5, “but, after thy hardness and impenitent heart, treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath.” Treasures formerly were laid up in secret places, or places of darkness, that were regarded as inaccessible; see the notes at Isa 45:3.
A fire not blown - A fire unkindled. Probably the meaning is, a fire that man has not kindled, or that is of heavenly origin. The language is such as would convey the idea of being consumed by lightning, and probably Zophar intended to refer to such calamities as had come upon the family of Job, Job 1:16. There is much “tact” in this speech of Zophar, and in the discourses of his friends on this point. They never, I believe, refer expressly to the calamities that had come upon Job and his family. They never in so many words say, that those calamities were proof of the wrath of heaven. But they go on to mention a great many similar “cases” in the abstract; to prove that the wicked would be destroyed in that manner; that when such calamities came upon people, it was proof that they were wicked, and they leave Job himself to make the application. The allusion, as in this case, was too broad to be misunderstood, and Job was not slow in regarding it as intended for himself. Prof Lee (“in loc.”) supposes that there may be an allusion here to the “fire that shall not be quenched,” or to the future punishment of the wicked. But this seems to me to be foreign to the design of the argument, and not to be suggested or demanded by the use of the word. The argument is not conducted on the supposition that people will be punished in the future world. That would at once have given a new phase to the whole controversy, and would have settled it at once. The question was about the dealings of God “in this life,” and whether men are punished according to their deeds here. Had there been a knowledge of the future world of rewards and punishments, the whole difficulty would have vanished at once, and the controversy would have been ended.
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It shall go ill with him in his tabernacle - Hebrew שׂריד ירע yâra‛ śârı̂yd - “It shall be ill with whatever survives or remains in his tent.” That is, all that remains in his dwelling shall be destroyed. Prof Lee renders it, “In his tent shall his survivor be broken” - supposing that the word ירע yâra‛ is from רעע râ‛a‛ - “to break.” But it is more probably from רוּע rûa‛ - “to be evil; to suffer evil; to come off ill:” and the sense is, that evil, or calamity, would come upon all that should remain in his dwelling.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Darkness, or misery. (Calmet) --- Septuagint, "Terrors upon him,…
Darkness, or misery. (Calmet) --- Septuagint, "Terrors upon him, (26) and all darkness may await him." (Haydock) --- He shall find no means of escaping. (Calmet) --- Kindled. Hebrew, "blown." St. Gregory observes that hell-fire is corporeal, but very different from our material fire. Chaldean, &c., explain this passage in the same sense. It may also intimate interior anguish, (Calmet) lightning, (Vatable) pestilence, (Grotius) and every species of calamity. (Calmet) --- Tabernacle, in hell. (Menochius) --- We may also translate, "he who is left," (Haydock) the offspring shall be also miserable. (Menochius)
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).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain All darkness--that is, every calamity that befalls the wicked…
All darkness--that is, every calamity that befalls the wicked shall be hid (in store for him) in His (God's) secret places, or treasures (Jde 1:13; Deu 32:34).
not blown--not kindled by man's hands, but by God's (Isa 30:33; the Septuagint in the Alexandrian Manuscript reads "unquenchable fire," Mat 3:12). Tact is shown by the friends in not expressly mentioning, but alluding under color of general cases, to Job's calamities; here (Job 1:16) UMBREIT explains it, wickedness, is a "self-igniting fire"; in it lie the principles of destruction.
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ill . . . tabernacle--Every trace of the sinner must be obliterated (Job 18:15).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 26. His secret places — All darkness shall be…
26. His secret places — All darkness shall be hid in his treasures. Darkness is used for dark fate, calamity. He bides (tsaphan) his treasures; God hides (taman) with them his darkness. The fate of each sinner embodies the “divine irony in the Nemesis of history.” Compare Pro_1:24-31; Psa_2:2-4. “Each time the wicked lays his unjust goods by, God lays something by till at last the time of exchange comes, treasure for treasure.” — Hengstenberg.
A fire not blown — The Septuagint has, “fire that burns not out,” πυρ ακαυστον. A fire that God has kindled, and not man, therefore said to be, not blown.
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Deu_32:22. “Wickedness is a self-igniting fire,” it carries within itself the elements of destruction. The punishment of sin is in part the letting loose of its own destructive nature.
It shall go ill — It shall destroy that which survives in his tent. Others read as in the text, (A.V.)
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 26. All darkness is laid up for his treasures;
26. All darkness is laid up for his treasures;
A fire not blown shall consume him,
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It shall devour him that is left in his tent.
“Darkness” is a figure for calamity; cf. ch. Job_15:22-23. “Laid up,” i. e. reserved, destined, for. “Him that is left” may also mean “that which is left,” Job_20:21. A fire “not blown” by mortal breath or man’s mouth, but the fire of God, consumes him; or, it may be a fire which kindles itself,—an allusion to the self-avenging nature of sin; cf. ch. Job_15:34.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (26) All darkness shall be hid in his secret…
(26) All darkness shall be hid in his secret places.—Rather, All darkness, every kind of disaster, is laid up for his secret treasures.
A fire not blown.—By human hands, &c.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain All darkness shall be hid in his secret places;…
All darkness shall be hid in his secret places; literally, all darkness is reserved for his treasures, which some understand of his hidden earthly treasures, which no one shall ever find some of the retribution laid up for him by God, which will be such darkness as Job describes in Job_10:21, Job_10:22. A fire not blown shall consume him; i.e. "a fire lighted by no human hands," probably lightning or brimstone from heaven (Job his tent, i.e. in his dwelling. His wife, his children, if he has any, and his domestics, shall be involved in the general ruin.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 Complete darkness is reserved for his treasures
Complete darkness is reserved for his treasures
"Complete darkness" here is a metaphor for destruction. AT: "Destruction is reserved for his treasures" or "His treasures will be destroyed" (See: Metaphor)
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a fire not fanned will devour him
Here "devour" is a metaphor meaning destroy. AT: "a fire that is not fanned will destroy him" (See: Metaphor)
a fire not fanned will devour him
The phrase "not fanned" implies that no human will start the fire. Rather, God will cause the fire. AT: "a fire that is not started by humans will destroy him" or "God will cause a fire to destroy him" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
it will consume
Here "consume" is a metaphor meaning destroy. AT: "the fire will destroy" (See: Metaphor)
The heavens ... the earth
Possible meanings are: 1) those who live in the heavens and the earth or 2) Zophar is describing the heavens and the earth as if they are humans who will testify in court against the wicked person. (See: Metonymy and Personification)
translationWords
darkness
fire
consume
tent
heaven
reveal
iniquity
raise
testimony
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 20:26 Images such as deepest darkness and wildfire are…
20:26 Images such as deepest darkness and wildfire are often associated with God’s presence (Deut 4:11; 5:22-23; Heb 12:18) and especially with his judgment (Exod 9:23-24; 10:21-29).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.