Job 38:17

17 Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Or have you seen the gates of the shadow of death?

Job 38:17 Meaning and Commentary

Job 38:17

Have the gates of death been opened unto thee?
&c.] Meaning not by which death has entered into the world, and which have been the causes and occasion of it; as the sin of man, the appointment of God, and various providences, calamities and diseases; but by which men enter into the state of the dead. Men know not experimentally what death is, nor in what way they shall go out of the world, nor at what time, nor in what place; they know not what the state of the dead is, there is no correspondence between them and the living; they do not know either what they enjoy or endure, or who precisely and with certainty are in the separate abodes of bliss or misery; the gates of these dark and invisible regions to us have never been thrown open, for mortals to look into them;

or hast thou seen the doors of the shadow of death?
the same thing in other words; the Targum and Jarchi interpret this of hell.

Job 38:17 In-Context

15 From the wicked, their light is withheld, The high arm is broken.

16 "Have you entered into the springs of the sea? Or have you walked in the recesses of the deep?

17 Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Or have you seen the gates of the shadow of death?

18 Have you comprehended the earth in its breadth? Declare, if you know it all.

19 "What is the way to the dwelling of light? As for darkness, where is the place of it,