Matthew Poole and continuators on Job 36:20

20. Desire not the night , when people are cut off in their place .

Either 1. properly, that in it thou mayest find some ease or rest, as men usually do. But this Iob did not much desire, for he complains that his nights were as restless as his days. Or rather 2. metaphorically, the night of Death, which is called the Night both in Scripture, as Iohn 9. 4. and in other Writers; and which Io[illegible: 1+ letters] had oft and earnestly desired and even thirsted after, as this Verb notes. See Ch. 7. 15. And this seems best to agree with the foregoing counsel, v. 18. beware l[illegible: 1+ letters]st [illegible: 1 word] take thee away with his stroke, for then, saith he, thou art irrecoverably lost and gone; and therefore take heed of thy foolish and oft r[illegible: 1+ letters]peated desire of death, le[illegible: 1+ letters] God inflict it upon thee in great anger.

Or, by which: which words are oft understood in divers Text[illegible: 1+ letters] of Scripture.

Even whole Nations and Bodies of People, which a[illegible: 1+ letters]e all God's Creatures as well as thou, and yet are not spared by him, but cut off in wrath, and many of them sent from one death to another; take heed therefore thou bee[illegible: 1+ letters] not added to the number.

Heb. are made to [illegible: 1 word] i. e. to vanish, or perish, or die, as this Verb is of[illegible: 1+ letters] [illegible: 1 word] ▪ as J[illegible: 1+ letters]b 18. 16. Psal. 102. 25.

In their several places where they are: or, suddenly before they [illegible: 1+ letters]an remove out of the Place where the hand and stroke of God finds them: or, in the place where they are settled and surrounded with all manner of Comforts▪ and Supports, and Friends, all which could not prevent their being [illegible: 1 word] [illegible: 1 word]. [illegible: 1+ letters]ossibly this phrase may allude to that expression of Job's, Chap. 29. 18. I shall die in my [illegible: 1+ letters]est.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 word] ▪ [illegible: 1+ letters]. 4.; [illegible: 1 word] ▪ 34. 20.