Job 16:18

An Appeal to God as Witness

16:18 “O earth, do not cover my blood,

nor let there be a secret place for my cry.

Job 18:18

18:18 He is driven from light into darkness

and is banished from the world.

Isaiah 26:21

26:21 For look, the Lord is coming out of the place where he lives,

to punish the sin of those who live on the earth.

The earth will display the blood shed on it;

it will no longer cover up its slain.


sn Job knows that he will die, and that his death, signified here by blood on the ground, will cry out for vindication.

tn The word is simply “a place,” but in the context it surely means a hidden place, a secret place that would never be discovered (see 18:21).

tn The verbs in this verse are plural; without the expressed subject they should be taken in the passive sense.

tn Heb “out of his place” (so KJV, ASV).

sn This implies that rampant bloodshed is one of the reasons for divine judgment. See the note at 24:5.