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Job

About this book
Chapter 26

1 Then Job replied: 2 “How you have helped the powerless! How you have saved the person who has no strength! 3 How you have advised the one without wisdom, and abundantly revealed your insight! 4 To whom did you utter these words? And whose spirit has come forth from your mouth? 5 “The dead tremble—those beneath the waters and all that live in them.⁠ 6 The underworld is naked before God; the place of destruction lies uncovered. 7 He spreads out the northern skies over empty space; he suspends the earth on nothing. 8 He locks the waters in his clouds, and the clouds do not burst with the weight of them. 9 He conceals the face of the full moon, shrouding it with his clouds. 10 He marks out the horizon on the surface of the waters as a boundary between light and darkness. 11 The pillars of the heavens tremble⁠ and are amazed at his rebuke.⁠ 12 By his power he stills the sea; by his wisdom he cut Rahab the great sea monster to pieces.⁠ 13 By his breath the skies became fair; his hand pierced the fleeing serpent. 14 Indeed, these are but the outer fringes of his ways! How faint is the whisper we hear of him! But who can understand the thunder of his power?”

Texts in conversation

Compare 2 Samuel 22:5 and Job 26:5

Hebrew Bible

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Summary

Job describes the dead stirring beneath the waters, and 2 Samuel speaks of being swept up by waves of death and held by Sheol. Both reflect an ancient Near Eastern view that connects the sea with the realm of the dead.

Passages

2 Samuel 22:5

Hebrew Bible
3 My God is my rocky summit where I take shelter, my shield, the horn that saves me, my stronghold, my refuge, my savior. You save me from violence! 4 I called to the Lord, who is worthy of praise, and I was delivered from my enemies. 5 The waves of death engulfed me; the currents of chaos overwhelmed me. 6 The ropes of Sheol tightened around me; the snares of death trapped me. 7 In my distress I called to the Lord; I called to my God. From his heavenly temple he heard my voice; he listened to my cry for help.
600–501 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in 2 Samuel

Job 26:5

Hebrew Bible
3 How you have advised the one without wisdom, and abundantly revealed your insight! 4 To whom did you utter these words? And whose spirit has come forth from your mouth? 5 “The dead tremble—those beneath the waters and all that live in them. 6 The underworld is naked before God; the place of destruction lies uncovered. 7 He spreads out the northern skies over empty space; he suspends the earth on nothing.
500–401 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Job

References

"... the earth as the place where the bodies of other people are to be found would surely have to be mentioned too. But in any case, the object of both clauses is 'the dead'. The language is clearly not intended to distinguish soul and body, but simply to speak of the return of the dead. There seem then to be two possible explanations for the reference to the sea. It may be the place for a special category of the dead: those who have died at sea. Whereas those who are buried in the earth are thought of as being in Sheol/Hades, those who die at sea are thought of as being in the subterranean ocean. But there seems to be no other evidence for this distinction. So more probably, and in the light of several Old Testament passages which closely associate the subterranean ocean with Sheol (e.g. 2 Samuel 22:5-6; Job 26:5; Psalm 69:15), the sea is here simply another synonym for Sheol ..."
Richard Bauckham, The Fate of the Dead: Studies on the Jewish and Christian Apocalypses, NovTSup 93 (Leiden: Brill, 1998), 280–281.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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2 Samuel 22:5 and Job 26:5

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