The Meaning of Job 10:22 Explained

Job 10:22

KJV: A land of darkness, as darkness itself; and of the shadow of death, without any order, and where the light is as darkness.

YLT: A land of obscurity as thick darkness, Death-shade -- and no order, And the shining is as thick darkness.'

Darby: A land of gloom, as darkness itself; of the shadow of death, without any order, where the light is as thick darkness.

ASV: The land dark as midnight, The land of the shadow of death, without any order, And where the light is as midnight.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

A land  of darkness,  as darkness  [itself; and] of the shadow of death,  without any order,  and [where] the light  [is] as darkness. 

What does Job 10:22 Mean?

Context Summary

Job 10:1-22 - Soul Bitterness
In this chapter Job accuses God of persecuting His own workmanship, Job 20:3; of pursuing him with repeated strokes, as if he had not time enough to wait between them, but must hurry on to achieve His design, Job 10:5; of reversing the careful providence which had watched over his earlier years, Job 10:12; of hunting and playing with him as a wild beast with his prey, Job 10:16-17; and asks that he may be allowed speedily to enter the land of Sheol, Job 10:18-22.
As we read these complaints, we may remember days in our lives when we uttered similar ones, but we are without excuse. And when we are tempted in this direction, it is for us to remember that probably we are being tried to teach the manifold wisdom of God, and that the works of God should be made manifest in us, Ephesians 3:10; John 9:3. It will enable us to endure, if we remember that God has conferred on us high honor, by choosing us to show that we can stand the fire, like those iron safes, blackened by smoke, which the makers place in the shop windows to prove the stability of their workmanship. [source]

Chapter Summary: Job 10

1  Job, taking liberty of complaint, expostulates with God about his afflictions
18  He complains of life, and craves a little ease before death

What do the individual words in Job 10:22 mean?

a land as dark as darkness [itself] as the shadow of death and without any order and [Where] even the light [is] like darkness -
אֶ֤רֶץ עֵיפָ֨תָה ׀ כְּמ֥וֹ אֹ֗פֶל צַ֭לְמָוֶת וְלֹ֥א סְדָרִ֗ים וַתֹּ֥פַע כְּמוֹ־ אֹֽפֶל פ

אֶ֤רֶץ  a  land  as 
Parse: Noun, feminine singular construct
Root: אֶרֶץ  
Sense: land, earth.
עֵיפָ֨תָה ׀  dark 
Parse: Noun, feminine singular
Root: עֵיפָה  
Sense: darkness.
אֹ֗פֶל  darkness  [itself] 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular construct
Root: אֹפֶל  
Sense: darkness, gloom.
צַ֭לְמָוֶת  as  the  shadow  of  death 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular
Root: צַלְמָוֶת  
Sense: death-shadow, deep shadow, deep darkness, shadow of death.
וְלֹ֥א  and  without 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Adverb, Negative particle
Root: הֲלֹא 
Sense: not, no.
סְדָרִ֗ים  any  order 
Parse: Noun, masculine plural
Root: סֵדֶר  
Sense: arrangement, order.
וַתֹּ֥פַע  and  [Where]  even  the  light  [is] 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Verb, Hifil, Consecutive imperfect, third person feminine singular
Root: יָפַע  
Sense: to shine, shine forth or out, cause to shine, send out beams.
כְּמוֹ־  like 
Parse: Preposition
Root: כְּמֹו  
Sense: like, as, the like of which conj.
אֹֽפֶל  darkness 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular
Root: אֹפֶל  
Sense: darkness, gloom.
פ  - 
Parse: Punctuation