Before I go—and I shall not return— To the land of darkness and the deep shadow [of death],

The [sunless] land of utter gloom as darkness itself, [The land] of the shadow of death, without order, And [where] it shines as [thick] darkness.”

“And your life would be brighter than the noonday; Darkness [then] would be like the morning.

“He uncovers mysteries [that are difficult to grasp and understand] out of the darkness And brings black gloom and the shadow of death into light.

“They grope in darkness without light, And He makes them stagger like a drunken man.”

“He does not believe that he will return out of the darkness [for fear of being murdered], And he is destined for the sword [of God’s vengeance].

“He wanders about for food, saying, ‘Where is it?’ He knows that the day of darkness and destruction is already at hand.

“He will not escape from darkness [fleeing disaster]; The flame [of God’s wrath] will wither his branch, And by the blast of His mouth he will go away.

“These [thoughts try to] make the night into the day; ‘The light is near,’ they say in the presence of darkness [but they pervert the truth].

“But if I look to Sheol (the nether world, the place of the dead) as my home, If I make my bed in the darkness,

“He is driven and propelled from light into darkness, And chased from the inhabited world.

“He has walled up my way so that I cannot pass, And He has set darkness upon my paths.

Complete darkness (misfortune) is held in reserve for his treasures. An unfanned fire will devour him; It will consume the survivor in his tent.

Or darkness, so that you cannot see, And a flood of water covers you.

“You say, ‘What does God know [about me]? Can He judge through the thick darkness?

But I am not silenced by the darkness [of these woes that fell on me], Nor by the thick darkness which covers my face.

“For the morning is the same to him as the thick darkness [of midnight]; For he is familiar with the terrors of thick darkness.

“He has inscribed a circular limit (the horizon) on the face of the waters At the boundary between light and darkness.

“Man puts an end to darkness [by bringing in a light], And to the farthest bounds he searches out The rock buried in gloom and deep shadow.

When His lamp shone upon my head And by His light I walked through darkness;

“When I expected good, then came evil [to me]; And when I waited for light, then came darkness.

“There is no darkness nor deep shadow Where the evildoers may hide themselves.

“Tell us [Job] what words [of man] shall we say to such a Being; We cannot state our case because of darkness [that is, our ignorance in the presence of the unsearchable God].

When I made the clouds its garment And thick darkness its swaddling band,

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