John Gill Commentary Job 36:12

"But if they hearken not, they shall perish by the sword, And they shall die without knowledge." — Job 36:12 (ASV)

But if they obey not
Who seem to be righteous and are not; and when afflicted are not submissive to the will of God; attend not to the voice of his providence; receive no instruction thereby; but kick against the pricks, and rebel, against God; complain of him, and murmur at his dealings with them:

they shall perish by the sword ;
or they shall pass away out of the world by it, or by some missive weapon: they shall die a violent death, by the sword of justice, of the civil magistrate, or by the sword of men; or, as a Jewish commentator ^F18 paraphrases it, by the dart of death, by the sword of Satan, they shall pass out of this world;

and they shall die without knowledge ;
without knowledge of their death being near, it coming upon them suddenly and at unawares; or without knowledge of themselves and of their miserable and lost estate; and without knowledge of Christ, and of God in Christ, and of the way of salvation by him. Or they shall perish for lack of knowledge; because they have none; through ignorance and that affected; they know not nor will they understand, but despise the means of knowledge, and hate instruction.

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FOOTNOTES:

• F18: R. Simeon, Bar Tzemach.