Job 26:6

26:6 The underworld is naked before God;

the place of destruction lies uncovered.

Job 34:21-22

34:21 For his eyes are on the ways of an individual,

he observes all a person’s steps.

34:22 There is no darkness, and no deep darkness,

where evildoers can hide themselves.

Proverbs 15:11

15:11 Death and Destruction are before the Lord

how much more the hearts of humans!

Jonah 2:2

2:2 and said,

“I called out to the Lord from my distress,

and he answered me; 10 

from the belly of Sheol 11  I cried out for help,

and you heard my prayer. 12 


tn Heb “Sheol.”

tn Heb “before him.”

tn The line has “and there is no covering for destruction.” “Destruction” here is another name for Sheol: אֲבַדּוֹן (’avaddon, “Abaddon”).

tn Heb “his”; the referent (a person) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

tn The construction of this colon uses the Niphal infinitive construct from סָתַר (satar, “to be hidden; to hide”). The resumptive adverb makes this a relative clause in its usage: “where the evildoers can hide themselves.”

tn Heb “Sheol and Abaddon” (שְׁאוֹל וַאֲבַדּוֹן (shÿol vaadon); so ASV, NASB, NRSV; cf. KJV “Hell and destruction”; NAB “the nether world and the abyss.” These terms represent the remote underworld and all the mighty powers that reside there (e.g., Prov 27:20; Job 26:6; Ps 139:8; Amos 9:2; Rev 9:11). The Lord knows everything about this remote region.

tn The construction אַף כִּי (’af ki, “how much more!”) introduces an argument from the lesser to the greater: If all this is open before the Lord, how much more so human hearts. “Hearts” here is a metonymy of subject, meaning the motives and thoughts (cf. NCV “the thoughts of the living”).

tn Heb “the hearts of the sons of man,” although here “sons of man” simply means “men” or “human beings.”

sn The eight verses of Jonah’s prayer in Hebrew contain twenty-seven first-person pronominal references to himself. There are fifteen second- or third-person references to the Lord.

10 tn Tg. Jonah 2:2 renders this interpretively: “and he heard my prayer.”

11 sn Sheol was a name for the place of residence of the dead, the underworld (see Job 7:9-10; Isa 38:17-18). Jonah pictures himself in the belly of Sheol, its very center – in other words he is as good as dead.

12 tn Heb “voice” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NRSV); NIV “my cry.” The term קוֹל (qol, “voice”) functions as a metonymy for the content of what is uttered: cry for help in prayer.