Bible Strands
Job 34:20
They die in an instant, in the middle of the night. The people convulse and pass away; the mighty are removed without human hand.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Elihu addresses Job and his friends, describing God's impartial judgment immediately after establishing that princes and the poor are equally His creation.
The words — The Hebrew רֶ֤גַע (re.ga') means a single moment, coupled with יָמֻתוּ (ya.mu.tu) for "they die," marking instantaneous death. יְגֹעֲשׁוּ (ye.go.a.shu) translates as a violent convulsion or shaking of the people as they pass away.
The thread — The abrupt removal of the powerful parallels the sudden devastation in Psalms 73:19. The cross-references to 1 Samuel 25:37 and 1 Samuel 26:10 provide contrast, noting a natural psychological collapse after sobering and a conditional royal judgment, respectively.
Why it lands — The text states that human status cannot delay or prevent sudden, unmediated divine removal. Readers must accept that mortality and divine oversight apply equally to all, regardless of earthly power.
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
In a moment shall they die, and the people shall be troubled at midnight, and pass away: and the mighty shall be taken away without hand.
Cross-references
- Psalms 73:19 How suddenly they are laid waste, completely swept away by terrors!
- 1 Samuel 25:37 In the morning when Nabal was sober, his wife told him about these events, and his heart failed within him, and he became like a stone.
- 1 Samuel 26:10 David added, “As surely as the LORD lives, the LORD Himself will strike him down; either his day will come and he will die, or he will go into battle and perish.
- Job 12:19 He leads priests away barefoot and overthrows the established.
- Job 36:20 Do not long for the night, when people vanish from their homes.
- Isaiah 10:16 Therefore the Lord GOD of Hosts will send a wasting disease among Assyria’s stout warriors, and under his pomp will be kindled a fire like a burning flame.
- Isaiah 30:13 this iniquity of yours is like a breach about to fail, a bulge in a high wall, whose collapse will come suddenly—in an instant!
- Isaiah 30:30 And the LORD will cause His majestic voice to be heard and His mighty arm to be revealed, striking in angry wrath with a flame of consuming fire, and with cloudburst, storm, and hailstones.
- Isaiah 37:36 Then the angel of the LORD went out and struck down 185,000 men in the camp of the Assyrians. When the people got up the next morning, there were all the dead bodies!
- Isaiah 37:38 One day, while he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer put him to the sword and escaped to the land of Ararat. And his son Esar-haddon reigned in his place.