Job 26:6

6 The realm of the dead is naked before God; Destruction^[a] lies uncovered.

Job 26:6 in Other Translations

6 Hell is naked before him, and destruction hath no covering.

6 Sheol is naked before God, and Abaddon has no covering.

6 The underworld is naked in God’s presence. The place of destruction is uncovered.

6 Hell is ripped open before God, graveyards dug up and exposed.

6 Sheol is naked before God, and Abaddon has no covering.

Job 26:6 Meaning and Commentary

Job 26:6

Hell [is] naked before him
Which may be taken either for the place of the damned, as it sometimes is; and then the sense is, that though it is hidden from men, and they know not where it is, or who are in it, and what is done and suffered there; yet it is all known to God: he knows the place thereof, for it is made, ordained, and prepared by him; he knows who are there, even all the wicked dead, and all the nations that forget God, being cast there by him; he knows the torments they endure, for the smoke of them continually ascends before him; and he knows all their malice and envy, their enmity to him, and blasphemy of him; for thither are they gone down with their weapons of war, and have laid their swords under their heads, ( Ezekiel 32:27 ) ; or for Hades, the invisible world of spirits, or state of the dead, as the Septuagint version renders the word; though that is unseen to men, it is naked and open to the eye of God; or for the grave, in which the bodies of men are laid; which is the frequent sense of the word used, ( Psalms 88:11 Psalms 88:12 ) ( Isaiah 38:18 ) ; and though this is a land of darkness, and where the light is as darkness, yet God can look into it; and the dust of men therein is carefully observed and preserved by him, and will be raised again at the last day; who has the keys of death and hell, or the grave, and can open it at his pleasure, and cause it to give up the dead that are therein:

and destruction hath no covering;
and may design the same as before, either hell, the place of the damned, where men are destroyed soul and body with an everlasting destruction; or the grave, which the Targum calls the house of destruction, as it sometimes is, the pit of destruction and corruption; because bodies cast into it corrupt and putrefy, and are destroyed in it; and there is nothing to cover either the one or the other from the all seeing eye of God; see ( Psalms 139:7-10 ) ( Proverbs 15:11 ) ; as hell is supposed to be under the earth, and the grave is in it, Job is as yet on things below, and from hence rises to those above, in the following words.

Job 26:6 In-Context

4 Who has helped you utter these words? And whose spirit spoke from your mouth?

5 “The dead are in deep anguish, those beneath the waters and all that live in them.

6 The realm of the dead is naked before God; Destruction lies uncovered.

7 He spreads out the northern skies over empty space; he suspends the earth over nothing.

8 He wraps up the waters in his clouds, yet the clouds do not burst under their weight.

Cross References

• 1. Psalms 139:8
• 2. S Job 20:26; S Revelation 9:11
• 3. Job 10:22; Job 11:8; Job 38:17; Job 41:11; Psalms 139:11-12; Proverbs 15:11; S Hebrews 4:13

Footnotes

• [a]. Hebrew "Abaddon"