Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary

Adam Clarke Commentary

Or darkness, that thou canst not see - The sense of this passage, in the connection that the particle or gives it with the preceding verse, is not easy to be ascertained. To me it seems very probable that a letter has been lost from the first word; and that או o which we translate Or, was originally אור or Light. The copy used by the Septuagint had certainly this reading; and therefore they translate the verse thus: Το φως σοι εις σκοτος απεβη ; Thy Light is changed into darkness; that is, Thy prosperity is turned into adversity.

Houbigant corrects the text thus: instead of תראה לא חשך או o chosech lo tireh, or darkness thou canst not see, he reads תראה אור לא חשך chosech lo or tireh, darkness, not light, shalt thou behold; that is, Thou shalt dwell in thick darkness. Mr. Good translates: "Or darkness which thou canst not penetrate, and a flood of waters shall cover thee." Thou shalt either be enveloped in deep darkness, or overwhelmed with a flood.

The versions all translate differently; and neither they nor the MSS. give any light, except what is afforded by the Septuagint. Coverdale is singular: Shuldest thou then send darcknesse? Shulde not the water floude runne over the? Perhaps the meaning is: "Thou art so encompassed with darkness, that thou canst not see thy way; and therefore fallest into the snares and traps that are laid for thee."

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

Or darkness - Darkness and night in the Scriptures are emblems of calamity.

That thou canst not see - Deep and fearful darkness; total night, so that nothing is visible. That is, the heaviest calamities had overwhelmed him.

And abundance of waters - An emblem, also, of calamities; Job 27:20; Psalm 69:1-2; Psalm 73:10.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

Or darkness, that thou canst not see,.... Or darkness is round about thee, thou art enveloped in it; meaning either judicial blindness, and darkness, and stupidity of mind, which must be his case, if he could not see the hand of God upon him, or the snares that were about him, or was not troubled with sudden fear; or else the darkness of affliction and calamity, which is often signified hereby, see Isaiah 8:22; afflictive dispensations of Providence are sometimes so dark, that a man cannot see the cause and reason of them, or why it is he is brought into them; which was Job's case, and therefore desires God would show him wherefore he contended with him, Job 10:9; nor can he see, perceive, or enjoy any light of comfort; he is in inward darkness of soul, deprived of the light of God's countenance, as well as he is in the outward darkness of adversity, which is a most uncomfortable case, as it was this good man's; nor can he see any end of the affliction, or any way to escape out of it, and which were the present circumstances Job was in:

and abundance of waters cover thee; afflictions, which are frequently compared to many waters, and floods of them, because of the multitude of them, their force and strength, the power and rapidity with which they come; and because overflowing, overbearing, and overwhelming, and threaten with utter ruin and destruction, unless stopped by the mighty hand of God, who only can resist and restrain them; Eliphaz represents Job like a man drowning, overflowed with a flood of water, and covered with its waves, and in the most desperate condition, see Psalm 69:1.

Geneva Study Bible

(f) That is, manifold afflictions.

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

that — so that thou.

abundance — floods. Danger by floods is a less frequent image in this book than in the rest of the Old Testament (Job 11:16; Job 27:20).

Wesley's Explanatory Notes

Or darkness, that thou canst not see; and abundance of waters cover thee.

Or — Either thou art troubled with fear of further evils or with the gross darkness of thy present state of misery.

Waters — Variety of sore afflictions, which are frequently compared to water.

John Trapp Complete Commentary

Job 22:11 Or darkness, [that] thou canst not see; and abundance of waters cover thee.

Ver. 11. Or darkness, that thou canst not see] Sunt tenebrae supplicia, et damnatorum desperationes, saith Brentius here. By darkness are meant punishments, temporal and eternal. Others understand the text of blindness and confusion of mind, that can neither see the cause of trouble nor find an issue.

And abundance of waters cover thee] So that although thou shouldest escape, the snares, outlive the fears, run away in the dark, yet how wilt thou avoid the deluge of destruction, the overflowing scourge that carrieth all before it?

Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible

Job 22:11. Or darkness— Thou beholdest darkness, and not light. Houbigant. Heath renders it, Or is it dark, that thou canst not see? Observing that the path of the wicked man is here represented as covered with darkness, so that he cannot see the snares which are laid for him, but falls into them: in antithesis to which, the path of the righteous man is represented in the 28th verse as all light; The light shall shine upon thy ways? Houbigant renders the last cause of the 9th verse, and thou hast broken the arms of the fatherless.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible

Darkness; either,

1. A darkness and confusion of mind so great that thou canst not discern the true cause and use of all thy sufferings. Or,

2. Grievous calamities, which are oft called darkness, which are such that thou canst see no way nor possibility of escaping. Either thou art troubled with fear of further evils, as it is said, Job 21:10, or with the gross darkness of thy present state of misery.

Abundance of waters, i.e. plenty and variety of sore afflictions, which are frequently compared to waters, as Psalms 18:16 66:12 Isaiah 43:2.

Whedon's Commentary on the Bible

11.Darkness, etc. — Dillmann and Schlottmann make this a question, but the text is better — (thus Hitzig.) The darkness is moral, blurring the vision. Eliphaz represents Job’s sins as encompassing him like thick, dark clouds, and overwhelming him as a flood.

George Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

Waters, and misery, (Calmet) which such conduct deserved. (Haydock)

Mark Dunagan Commentary on the Bible

"Abundance of water covers you": Calamity has simply overwhelmed Job, like the waters of a flood. Crushing misfortunes are figuratively referred to as blinding darkness and destructive floods (Psalm 69:2,3).

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Unabridged

Or darkness, that thou canst not see; and abundance of waters cover thee.

That - so that thou canst not see.

Abundance - floods. Dauger by floods is a less frequent image in this book than in the rest of the Old Testament (Job 11:16; Job 27:20). Overwhelming calamities are meant (Psalms 18:16; Psalms 32:6 ).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

darkness

18:6,18; 19:8; Proverbs 4:19; Isaiah 8:22; Lamentations 3:2; Joel 2:2,3; Matthew 8:12

abundance

Psalms 42:7; 69:1,2; 124:4; Lamentations 3:54; Jonah 2:3