23:17 Yet I have not been silent because of the darkness,
because of the thick darkness
that covered my face. 1
24:17 For all of them, 2 the morning is to them
like deep darkness;
they are friends with the terrors of darkness.
28:3 Man puts an end to the darkness; 3
he searches the farthest recesses
for the ore in the deepest darkness. 4
1 tn This is a very difficult verse. The Hebrew text literally says: “for I have not been destroyed because of darkness, and because of my face [which] gloom has covered.” Most commentators omit the negative adverb, which gives the meaning that Job is enveloped in darkness and reduced to terror. The verb נִצְמַתִּי (nitsmatti) means “I have been silent” (as in Arabic and Aramaic), and so obviously the negative must be retained – he has not been silent.
2 tn Heb “together.”
3 sn The text appears at first to be saying that by opening up a mine shaft, or by taking lights down below, the miner dispels the darkness. But the clause might be more general, meaning that man goes deep into the earth as if it were day.
4 tn The verse ends with “the stone of darkness and deep darkness.” The genitive would be location, describing the place where the stones are found.