Job - 18:18



18 He shall be driven from light into darkness, and chased out of the world.

Verse In-Depth

Explanation and meaning of Job 18:18.

Differing Translations

Compare verses for better understanding.
He shall drive him out of light into darkness, and shall remove him out of the world.
They thrust him from light unto darkness, And from the habitable earth cast him out.
He is sent away from the light into the dark; he is forced out of the world.
He will expel him from light into darkness, and he will remove him from the world.

*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.


Historical Commentaries

Scholarly Analysis and Interpretation.

He shall be driven from light into darkness - Margin, "They shall drive him." The meaning is, that he should be driven from a state of prosperity to one of calamity.
And chased out of the world - Perhaps meaning that he should not be conducted to the grave with the slow and solemn pomp of a respectful funeral, but in a hurry - as a malefactor is driven from human life, and hastily commited to the earth. The living would be glad to be rid of him, and would "chase" him out of life.

He shall be driven from light - He shall be taken off by a violent death.
And chased out of the world - The wicked is Driven Away in his iniquity. This shows his reluctance to depart from life.

He shall be driven from (m) light into darkness, and chased out of the world.
(m) He will fall from prosperity to adversity.

He shall be driven from light into darkness,.... Either from the light of outward prosperity, formerly enjoyed by him, into the darkness of adversity; or rather from the light of the living, the light of the present life, to the darkness of death, and the grave, the land of darkness, and of the shadow of death, Job 10:21; and even into utter darkness, blackness of darkness, the darkness of hell, eternal darkness; opposed to the light of the divine Presence, and the inheritance of the saints in light, possessed by them to all eternity; which the wicked man is deprived of, and will have no share in, but shall be driven from the presence of God, and by him; for so the words may be rendered, "they shall drive him" (n), God, Father, Son, and Spirit; God by the east wind and storm of his wrath shall carry him away, and hurl him out of his place, and shall cast the fury of his wrath on him, and not spare, nor shall he flee out of his hands, though he fain would, Job 27:21; or the angels, good or bad, shall drive him into endless torments, or shall, by the divine order, take him and cast him into outward darkness, where are weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth; thus are the wicked driven against their will, and must go whether they will or not, and, like beasts to the slaughter, are driven in their wickedness, in order to suffer the punishment due unto it, when the righteous hath hope in his death, Proverbs 14:32;
and chased out of the world; or cast out of it, as an unclean or excommunicated person, of which the word here is sometimes used (o); and not only chased out of his own place, out of his own house, and out of his own country, but even out of the world, so as to have no place any more in it, see Job 20:8.
(n) "expellent eum", Pagninus, Montanus; so Tigurine version, Vatablus, Mercerus, Drusius, Schultens, Cocceius, Schmidt. (o) "excommunicabunt cum", Schmidt, Michaelis; so Codurcus.

light . . . darkness--existence--nonexistence.

Darkness - From a prosperous life to disgrace and misery, and to the grave, the land of darkness.

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