Bible Strands
Job 33:22
He draws near to the Pit, and his life to the messengers of death.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Elihu addresses Job, describing a man whose flesh has wasted away and whose hidden bones now protrude, standing at the edge of physical collapse.
The words — The verb תִּקְרַב (tikrav, "it drew near") and the noun שַׁחַת (sha'at, "pit") establish proximity, while מְמִיתִים (memitim, "death-bringers") identifies the agents awaiting the man.
The thread — The descent toward the Pit and encounter with death agents reappears in Job 33:28, where divine intervention redeems the soul from that trajectory so the man may live. The same motif of divine judgment and restraint appears in 2 Samuel 24:16 and Exodus 12:23.
Why it lands — The text presents mortality as an unavoidable approach to death, requiring acknowledgment that only a mediator can alter the course toward the Pit.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Yea, his soul draweth near unto the grave, and his life to the destroyers.
Cross-references
- 2 Samuel 24:16 But when the angel stretched out his hand to destroy Jerusalem, the LORD relented from the calamity and said to the angel who was destroying the people, “Enough! Withdraw your hand now!” At that time the angel of the LORD was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.
- Job 33:28 He redeemed my soul from going down to the Pit, and I will live to see the light.’
- Exodus 12:23 When the LORD passes through to strike down the Egyptians, He will see the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe and will pass over that doorway; so He will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses and strike you down.
- 1 Samuel 2:6 The LORD brings death and gives life; He brings down to Sheol and raises up.
- Job 7:7 Remember that my life is but a breath. My eyes will never again see happiness.
- Job 15:21 Sounds of terror fill his ears; in his prosperity the destroyer attacks him.
- Job 17:1 “My spirit is broken; my days are extinguished; the grave awaits me.
- Job 17:13 If I look for Sheol as my home, if I spread out my bed in darkness,
- Psalms 17:4 As for the deeds of men—by the word of Your lips I have avoided the ways of the violent.
- Psalms 30:3 O LORD, You pulled me up from Sheol; You spared me from descending into the Pit.