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“May that day be darkness; Let God above not care about it, Nor light shine on it.
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“Let darkness and gloom claim it for their own; Let a cloud settle upon it; Let all that blackens the day terrify it (the day that I was born).
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“As for that night, let darkness seize it; Let it not rejoice among the days of the year; Let it not be counted in the number of the months.
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“In the daytime they meet in darkness, And at noon they grope as in the night.
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Before I go—and I shall not return— To the land of darkness and the deep shadow [of death],
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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.”
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“And your life would be brighter than the noonday; Darkness [then] would be like the morning.
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“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.
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“They grope in darkness without light, And He makes them stagger like a drunken man.”
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“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].
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“He wanders about for food, saying, ‘Where is it?’ He knows that the day of darkness and destruction is already at hand.
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“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.
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“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].
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“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,
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“He is driven and propelled from light into darkness, And chased from the inhabited world.
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“He has walled up my way so that I cannot pass, And He has set darkness upon my paths.
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Complete darkness (misfortune) is held in reserve for his treasures. An unfanned fire will devour him; It will consume the survivor in his tent.
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Or darkness, so that you cannot see, And a flood of water covers you.
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“You say, ‘What does God know [about me]? Can He judge through the thick darkness?
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But I am not silenced by the darkness [of these woes that fell on me], Nor by the thick darkness which covers my face.
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“For the morning is the same to him as the thick darkness [of midnight]; For he is familiar with the terrors of thick darkness.
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“He has inscribed a circular limit (the horizon) on the face of the waters At the boundary between light and darkness.
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“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.
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When His lamp shone upon my head And by His light I walked through darkness;
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“When I expected good, then came evil [to me]; And when I waited for light, then came darkness.