Berean Standard Bible
Job 4:21
21Are not their tent cords pulled up, so that they die without wisdom?’
Job 4:21 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)Doth not their excellency which is in them go away? they die, even without wisdom.
- New International Version (NIV)Are not the cords of their tent pulled up, so that they die without wisdom?’
- English Standard Version (ESV)Is not their tent-cord plucked up within them, do they not die, and that without wisdom?'
- New King James Version (NKJV)Does not their own excellence go away? They die, even without wisdom.’
Context of Job 4:21
19how much more those who dwell in houses of clay, whose foundations are in the dust, who can be crushed like a moth! 20They are smashed to pieces from dawn to dusk; unnoticed, they perish forever. Are not their tent cords pulled up, so that they die without wisdom?’
Read all of Job 4Job 4:21 word by word
הֲלֹא־נִסַּ֣ע יִתְרָ֣ם בָּ֑ם יָ֝מ֗וּתוּ וְלֹ֣א בְחָכְמָֽה׃Read the interlinear
Cross-references for Job 4:21
- Psalms 39:5You, indeed, have made my days as handbreadths, and my lifetime as nothing before You. Truly each man at his best exists as but a breath. Selah
- Psalms 49:14Like sheep they are destined for Sheol. Death will be their shepherd. The upright will rule them in the morning, and their form will decay in Sheol, far from their lofty abode.
- Psalms 146:3Put not your trust in princes, in mortal man, who cannot save.
- Isaiah 14:16Those who see you will stare; they will ponder your fate: “Is this the man who shook the earth and made the kingdoms tremble,
- Luke 16:22One day the beggar died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side. And the rich man also died and was buried.
- James 1:11For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its flower falls and its beauty is lost. So too, the rich man will fade away in the midst of his pursuits.
- Job 36:12But if they do not obey, then they perish by the sword and die without knowledge.
- Psalms 49:20A man who has riches without understanding is like the beasts that perish.
- Isaiah 2:22Put no more trust in man, who has only the breath in his nostrils. Of what account is he?
- Luke 12:20But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be required of you. Then who will own what you have accumulated?’
Commentaries on Job 4:21
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 21Doth not their excellency - go away! - Personal beauty, corporeal strength, powerful eloquence, and various mental endowments, pass away, or are plucked up by the roots; they are no more seen or heard among men, and their memory soon perisheth. They die, even without wisdom - If wisdom means the pursuit of the best end, by the most legitimate and appropriate means, the great mass of mankind appear to perish without it. But, if we consider the subject more…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 21Doth not their excellency - Dr. Good renders this, “Their fluttering round is over with them,” by a very forced construction of the passage. Translators and expositors have been very much divided in opinion as to its meaning; but the sense seems to be, that whatever is excellent in people is torn away or removed. Their excellence does not keep them from death, and they are taken off before they are truly wise. The word “excellency” here refers not only…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 12-21Verses 12-21 Eliphaz relates a vision. When we are communing with our own hearts, and are still, Psa 4:4, then is a time for the Holy Spirit to commune with us. This vision put him into very great fear. Ever since man sinned, it has been terrible to him to receive communications from Heaven, conscious that he can expect no good tidings thence. Sinful man! shall he pretend to be more just, more pure, than God, who being his Maker, is his Lord and Owner?…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 21A tent often symbolized human life (Isaiah 38:12; 2 Corinthians 5:1; compare Ecclesiastes 12:6).Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 2121. their excellency--(Psa 39:11; 146:4; 1Co 13:8). But Umbreit, by an Oriental image from a bow, useless because unstrung: "Their nerve, or string would be torn away." Michaelis, better in accordance with Job 4:19, makes the allusion be to the cords of a tabernacle taken down (Is 33:20). they die, even without wisdom--rather, "They would perish, yet not according to wisdom," but according to arbitrary choice, if God were not infinitely wise and holy. The…Read the comment
Topics related to Job 4:21
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Job 4
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
Berean Standard Bible — © Berean Bible — CC0 / Public Domain
Commentaries