Job 27:20

20 Terrors pour in on them like flash floods - a tornado snatches them away in the middle of the night,

Job 27:20 Meaning and Commentary

Job 27:20

Terrors take hold on him as waters
The terrors of death, and of an awful judgment that is to come after it; finding himself dying, death is the king of terrors to him, dreading not only the awful stroke of death itself, but of what is to follow upon it; or rather these terrors are those that seize the wicked man after death; perceiving what a horrible condition he is in, the terrors of a guilty conscience lay hold on him, remembering his former sins with all the aggravating circumstances of them; the terrors of the law's curses lighting upon him, and of the wrath and fury of the Almighty pouring out on him and surrounding him, and devils and damned spirits all about him. These will seize him "as waters", like a flood of waters, denoting the abundance of them, "terror on every side", a "Magormissabib", ( Jeremiah 20:3 ) , will he be, and coming with great rapidity, with an irresistible force, and without ceasing, rolling one after another in a sudden and surprising manner:

a tempest stealeth him away in the night;
the tempest of divine wrath, from which there is no shelter but the person, blood, and righteousness of Christ; this comes like a thief, suddenly and unexpectedly, and steals the wicked man out of this world; or rather from the judgment seat, and carries him into the regions of darkness, of horror and black despair, where he is surrounded with the aforesaid terrors; this is said to be in the night, to make it the more shocking and terrible, see ( Luke 12:19 Luke 12:20 ) ; and may have respect to that blackness that attends a tempest, and to that blackness of darkness reserved for wicked men, ( Jude 1:13 ) .

Job 27:20 In-Context

18 They build elaborate houses that won't survive a single winter.
19 They go to bed wealthy and wake up poor.
20 Terrors pour in on them like flash floods - a tornado snatches them away in the middle of the night,
21 A cyclone sweeps them up - gone! Not a trace of them left, not even a footprint.
22 Catastrophes relentlessly pursue them; they run this way and that, but there's no place to hide -
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.