Iyov 38:17

17 Have the sha’arei mavet been disclosed unto thee? Or hast thou seen the sha’arei tzalmavet?

Iyov 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.

Iyov 38:17 In-Context

15 And from the resha’im their ohr is denied, and the upraised zero’a shall be broken.

16 Hast thou entered into the springs of the yam? Or hast thou walked in the recesses of the tehom?

17 Have the sha’arei mavet been disclosed unto thee? Or hast thou seen the sha’arei tzalmavet?

18 Hast thou perceived the expanse of eretz? Tell Me if thou hast da’as of it all.

19 Where is the derech where ohr dwelleth? And as for choshech, where is the place thereof,