The Meaning of Job 36:20 Explained

Job 36:20

KJV: Desire not the night, when people are cut off in their place.

YLT: Desire not the night, For the going up of peoples in their stead.

Darby: Desire not the night, when peoples are cut off from their place.

ASV: Desire not the night, When peoples are cut off in their place.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

Desire  not the night,  when people  are cut off  in their place. 

What does Job 36:20 Mean?

Context Summary

Job 36:1-33 - He Despiseth Not Any
God is mighty, but He does not despise thee, though thou be the least of saints. His eyes are upon thee for good, and He will set thee before His throne forever. He will stoop to thy low dungeon, whispering instruction to thine ear and commanding thee to return. There are broad places before thee in which there shall be no straitness; tables await thee full of fatness. Thy path leads from thy present prison-house into liberty and light.
Remember the unsearchable numbers of His years. Behold the wonderful machinery by which He collects from ocean, lake, and stream the clouds which, like floating cisterns, carry the waters to be bleached in the snow of the hills, and oxidized in the torrent beds! There is more love than terror in creation. Nature's myriad voices proclaim with Scripture, "God is love." He cannot, therefore, be indifferent to the righteous man or neglect him. He may discipline him to make him hate sin; but, when this end is attained, He will assuredly withdraw His rod, Job 36:10-11. [source]

Chapter Summary: Job 36

1  Elihu shows how God is just in his ways
16  How Job's sins hinder God's blessings
24  God's works are to be magnified

What do the individual words in Job 36:20 mean?

Not do desire the night when are cut off people in their place
אַל־ תִּשְׁאַ֥ף הַלָּ֑יְלָה לַעֲל֖וֹת עַמִּ֣ים תַּחְתָּֽם

תִּשְׁאַ֥ף  do  desire 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Imperfect, second person masculine singular
Root: שָׁאַף 
Sense: to gasp, pant, pant after, long for, breathe heavily.
הַלָּ֑יְלָה  the  night 
Parse: Article, Noun, masculine singular
Root: לַיִל 
Sense: night.
לַעֲל֖וֹת  when  are  cut  off 
Parse: Preposition-l, Verb, Qal, Infinitive construct
Root: סָלַק 
Sense: to go up, ascend, climb.
עַמִּ֣ים  people 
Parse: Noun, masculine plural
Root: עַם 
Sense: nation, people.
תַּחְתָּֽם  in  their  place 
Parse: Preposition, third person masculine plural
Root: מִתְחָה 
Sense: the under part, beneath, instead of, as, for, for the sake of, flat, unto, where, whereas.