Job 33:22

22 They draw near to the pit, and their life to the messengers of death.^[a]

Job 33:22 in Other Translations

22 Yea, his soul draweth near unto the grave, and his life to the destroyers.

22 His soul draws near the pit, and his life to those who bring death.

22 They are at death’s door; the angels of death wait for them.

22 They hang on the cliff-edge of death, knowing the next breath may be their last.

22 Yea, his soul draweth near unto the pit, And his life to the destroyers.

22 Their souls approach the pit. Their lives come close to those already dead.

22 He draws near the Pit, and his life to the executioners.

22 He might approach the very edge of the grave. The messengers of death might come for him.

Job 33:22 Meaning and Commentary

Job 33:22

Yea, his soul draweth near unto the grave
Not the soul, strictly and properly speaking, for that does not, nor is it laid in the grave at death, but returns to God that gave it; rather the body, for which it is sometimes put, and of which what is here said is true, see ( Psalms 16:10 ) ; or the person of the sick man, whose disease being so threatening, all hope is gone, and he is given up by his physicians and friends, and seemingly is at the grave's mouth, and that is ready for him, and he on the brink of that; which were the apprehensions Job had of himself, ( Job 17:1 ) ; see ( Psalms 88:3 ) ( 107:17 ) ;

and his life to the destroyers;
the destroying angels, as Aben Ezra, and so the Septuagint version: or destroying diseases, and so Mr. Broughton renders it, "to killing maladies"; or it may be to worms, which destroy the body in the grave, and which Job was sensible of would quickly be his case, ( Job 19:26 ) ; though some interpret it of those that kill, or of those that are dead, with whom they are laid that die; or of deaths corporeal and eternal, and the horrors and terrors of both, with which persons in such circumstances are sometimes distressed.

Job 33:22 In-Context

20 so that their body finds food repulsive and their soul loathes the choicest meal.

21 Their flesh wastes away to nothing, and their bones, once hidden, now stick out.

22 They draw near to the pit, and their life to the messengers of death.

23 Yet if there is an angel at their side, a messenger, one out of a thousand, sent to tell them how to be upright,

24 and he is gracious to that person and says to God, ‘Spare them from going down to the pit; I have found a ransom for them—

Cross References

• 1. S ver 18
• 2. Job 38:17; Psalms 9:13; Psalms 88:3; Psalms 107:18; Psalms 116:3

Footnotes

• [a]. Or "to the place of the dead"