Job 38:17

Easy-to-Read Version

Has anyone shown you the gates to the world of the dead? Have you ever seen those gates that lead to the dark place of death?

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Have the gates of death been revealed to you?Have you seen the gates of deep darkness?

Hebrew Names Version
Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Or have you seen the gates of the shadow of death?

King James Version
Have the gates of death been opened unto thee? or hast thou seen the doors of the shadow of death?

English Standard Version
Have the gates of death been revealed to you, or have you seen the gates of deep darkness?

New Century Version
Have the gates of death been opened to you? Have you seen the gates of the deep darkness?

New English Translation
Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Have you seen the gates of deepest darkness?

Amplified Bible
"Have the gates of death been revealed to you, Or have you seen the gates of deep darkness?

New American Standard Bible
"Have the gates of death been revealed to you, And have you seen the gates of deep darkness?

World English Bible
Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Or have you seen the gates of the shadow of death?

Geneva Bible (1587)
Haue the gates of death bene opened vnto thee? or hast thou seene the gates of the shadowe of death?

Legacy Standard Bible
Have the gates of death been revealed to you,Or have you seen the gates of the shadow of death?

Berean Standard Bible
Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Have you seen the gates of the shadow of death?

Contemporary English Version
Have you seen the gate to the world of the dead?

Complete Jewish Bible
Have the gates of death been revealed to you, the gates of death-like darkness?

Darby Translation
Have the gates of death been revealed unto thee? and hast thou seen the gates of the shadow of death?

George Lamsa Translation
Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Or have you seen the gates of the shadow of death?

Good News Translation
Has anyone ever shown you the gates that guard the dark world of the dead?

Lexham English Bible
Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Or have you seen the gates of deep shadow?

Literal Translation
Have death's gates been opened to you; or have you seen the gates of the shadow of death?

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Haue the gates of death bene opened vnto the or hast thou sene the dore of euerlastige treasure?

American Standard Version
Have the gates of death been revealed unto thee? Or hast thou seen the gates of the shadow of death?

Bible in Basic English
Have the doors of death been open to you, or have the door-keepers of the dark ever seen you?

JPS Old Testament (1917)
Have the gates of death been revealed unto thee? Or hast thou seen the gates of the shadow of death?

King James Version (1611)
Haue the gates of death bene opened vnto thee? Or hast thou seene the doores of the shadow of death?

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Haue the gates of death ben opened vnto thee? or hast thou seene the doores of the shadowe of death?

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And do the gates of death open to thee for fear; and did the porters of hell quake when they saw thee?

English Revised Version
Have the gates of death been revealed unto thee? or hast thou seen the gates of the shadow of death?

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Whether the yatis of deeth ben openyd to thee, and `siest thou the derk doris?

Update Bible Version
Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Or have you seen the gates of the shadow of death?

Webster's Bible Translation
Have the gates of death been opened to thee? or hast thou seen the doors of the shades of death?

New King James Version
Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Or have you seen the doors of the shadow of death?

New Living Translation
Do you know where the gates of death are located? Have you seen the gates of utter gloom?

New Life Bible
Have the gates of death been shown to you? Or have you seen the gates of the deep darkness?

New Revised Standard
Have the gates of death been revealed to you, or have you seen the gates of deep darkness?

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Have the gates of death been disclosed to thee? And, the gates of the death-shade, couldst thou descry?

Douay-Rheims Bible
Have the gates of death been opened to thee, and hast thou seen the darksome doors?

Revised Standard Version
Have the gates of death been revealed to you, or have you seen the gates of deep darkness?

Young's Literal Translation
Revealed to thee were the gates of death? And the gates of death-shade dost thou see?

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"Have the gates of death been revealed to you, Or have you seen the gates of deep darkness?

Contextual Overview

¹² "Did you ever in your life command the morning to begin or the day to dawn? ¹³ Did you ever tell the morning light to grab the earth and shake those who are evil out of their hiding places? ¹⁴ The morning light makes the hills and valleys easy to see. When the daylight comes to the earth, the shapes of these places stand out like the folds of a coat. They take shape like soft clay that is pressed with a stamp. ¹⁵ Evil people don't like the daylight. When it shines bright, it keeps them from doing the bad things they do. ¹⁶ "Have you ever gone to the deepest parts of the sea? Have you ever walked on the ocean bottom? ¹⁷ Has anyone shown you the gates to the world of the dead? Have you ever seen those gates that lead to the dark place of death? ¹⁸ Do you really understand how big the earth is? Tell me, if you know all this. ¹⁹ "Where does light come from? Where does darkness come from? ²⁰ Can you take them back to where they belong? Do you know how to get there? ²¹ Surely you know these things, since you are so old and wise. You were alive when I made them, weren't you?

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

the gates: Psalms 9:13, Psalms 107:18, Psalms 116:3

the shadow: Job 3:5, Job 12:22, Psalms 23:4, Psalms 107:10, Psalms 107:14, Amos 5:8, Matthew 4:16

Reciprocal: Job 10:22 - the shadow of death Job 28:3 - the stones Matthew 16:18 - and the Hebrews 4:13 - naked

Cross-References

Genesis 38:20
Later, Judah sent his friend Hirah to Enaim to give the prostitute the goat he promised. Judah also told Hirah to get the special seal and the walking stick from her, but Hirah could not find her.

Genesis 38:24
About three months later, someone told Judah, "Your daughter-in-law Tamar sinned like a prostitute, and now she is pregnant." Then Judah said, "Take her out and burn her."

Genesis 38:25
The men went to Tamar to kill her, but she sent a message to her father-in-law that said, "The man who made me pregnant is the man who owns these things. Look at them. Whose are they? Whose special seal and string is this? Whose walking stick is this?"

Proverbs 20:16
If someone promises to pay the debt of a stranger, get a coat or something from him to keep until the debt is paid.

Ezekiel 16:33
Most prostitutes force men to pay them for sex, but you gave money to your many lovers. You paid all the men around to come in to have sex with you.

Luke 16:8
"Later, the master told the dishonest manager that he had done a smart thing. Yes, worldly people are smarter in their business with each other than spiritual people are.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Have the gates of death been opened unto thee?.... Meaning not by which death has entered into the world, and which have been the causes and occasion of it; as the sin of man, the appointment of God, and various providences, calamities and diseases; but by which men enter into the state of the dead. Men know not experimentally what death is, nor in what way they shall go out of the world, nor at what time, nor in what place; they know not what the state of the dead is, there is no correspondence between them and the living; they do not know either what they enjoy or endure, or who precisely and with certainty are in the separate abodes of bliss or misery; the gates of these dark and invisible regions to us have never been thrown open, for mortals to look into them;

or hast thou seen the doors of the shadow of death? the same thing in other words; the Targum and Jarchi interpret this of hell.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Have the gates of death been opened unto thee - That is, the gates of the world where death reigns; or the gates that lead to the abodes of the dead. The allusion here is to “Sheol,” or “Hades,” the dark abodes of the dead. This was supposed to be beneath the ground, and was entered by the grave, and was inclosed by gates and bars; see the notes at Job 10:21-22. The transition from the reference to the bottom of the sea to the regions of the dead was natural, and the mind is carried forward to a subject further beyond the ken of mortals than even the unfathomable depths of the ocean. The idea is, that God saw all that occurred in that dark world beneath us, where the dead were congregated, and that his vast superiority to man was evinced by his being able thus to penetrate into, and survey those hidden regions. It is common in the Classical writers to represent those regions as entered by gates. Thus, Lucretius, i. 1105,

- Haec rebus erit para janua letl,

Hae se turba foras dabit omnis materai.

- “The doors of death are ope,

And the vast whole unbounded ruin whelms.”

Good.

So Virgil, Aeneid ii. 661,

- Pater isti janua leto,

“The door of death stands open.”

Or hast thou seen the doors of the shadow of death? - The doors which lead down to the gloomy realms where death spreads its dismal shades. This expression is more emphatic than the former, for the word צלמות tsalmâveth “shadow of death,” is more intensive in its meaning than the word מות mâveth, “death.” There is the superadded idea of a deep and dismal shadow; of profound and gloomy darkness; see the word explained in the notes at Job 3:5; compare Job 10:21-22. Man was unable to penetrate those gloomy abodes and to reveal what was there; but God saw all with the clearness of noon-day.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Job 38:17. Have the gates of death been opened unto thee? — Dost thou know in what the article of death consists? This is as inexplicable as the question, What is animal life?

The doors of the shallow of death? — צלמות tsalmaveth, the intermediate state, the openings into the place of separate spirits. Here two places are distinguished: מות maveth, death, and צלמות tsalmaveth, the shadow of death. It will not do to say, death is the privation of life, for what then would be the shadow of that privation?