The Meaning of Job 4:13 Explained

Job 4:13

KJV: In thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep falleth on men,

YLT: In thoughts from visions of the night, In the falling of deep sleep on men,

Darby: In thoughts from visions of the night, when deep sleep falleth on men: --

ASV: In thoughts from the visions of the night, When deep sleep falleth on men,

KJV Reverse Interlinear

In thoughts  from the visions  of the night,  when deep sleep  falleth  on men, 

What does Job 4:13 Mean?

Context Summary

Job 4:1-21 - "shall Mortal Man Be More Just Than God?"
The first cycle of speeches is opened by Eliphaz. It must be remembered that he and the two others believed that special suffering resulted from and was the sign of special sin. Job's calamities, in the light of that thought, seemed to prove that he who had been considered a paragon of perfection was not what they had supposed. According to their philosophy, if only he would confess his sin, all would be well and the sun would shine again upon his path.
Eliphaz recounts a visitation, in a night vision, from the unseen world, which is described with marvelous power. Emphasis is laid on the infinite distance between God and man, and on the impossibility of a mortal being accounted just in the presence of divine purity. Of course the suggestion is that Job was suffering the penalty of sin which, though it had eluded human eyes, was naked and open before God. An angel seems dark against God's pure light, and if an angel is deficient, how much more man! [source]

Chapter Summary: Job 4

1  Eliphaz reproves Job that the innocent do not suffer
7  He teaches God's judgments to be not for the righteous, but for the wicked
12  His fearful vision to humble the excellency of creatures before God

What do the individual words in Job 4:13 mean?

In disquieting thoughts from the visions of the night when falls deep sleep on men
בִּ֭שְׂעִפִּים מֵחֶזְיֹנ֣וֹת לָ֑יְלָה בִּנְפֹ֥ל תַּ֝רְדֵּמָ֗ה עַל־ אֲנָשִֽׁים

בִּ֭שְׂעִפִּים  In  disquieting  thoughts 
Parse: Preposition-b, Noun, masculine plural
Root: סְעִפִּים 
Sense: ambivalence, division, divided opinion.
מֵחֶזְיֹנ֣וֹת  from  the  visions 
Parse: Preposition-m, Noun, masculine plural
Root: חִזָּיׄון  
Sense: vision.
לָ֑יְלָה  of  the  night 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular
Root: לַיִל 
Sense: night.
בִּנְפֹ֥ל  when  falls 
Parse: Preposition-b, Verb, Qal, Infinitive construct
Root: נָפַל  
Sense: to fall, lie, be cast down, fail.
תַּ֝רְדֵּמָ֗ה  deep  sleep 
Parse: Noun, feminine singular
Root: תַּרְדֵּמָה  
Sense: deep sleep, trance.
אֲנָשִֽׁים  men 
Parse: Noun, masculine plural
Root: אִישׁ 
Sense: man.