Christian Standard Bible
Job 4:21
21Are their tent cords not pulled up? 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 clay houses, whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed like a moth! 20They are smashed to pieces from dawn to dusk; they perish forever while no one notices. Are their tent cords not pulled up? They die without wisdom.
Read all of Job 4Job 4:21 word by word
הֲלֹא־נִסַּ֣ע יִתְרָ֣ם בָּ֑ם יָ֝מ֗וּתוּ וְלֹ֣א בְחָכְמָֽה׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Job 4:21
- Psalms 39:5In fact, you have made my days just inches long, and my life span is as nothing to you. Yes, every human being stands as only a vapor.Selah
- Psalms 49:14Like sheep they are headed for Sheol; Death will shepherd them. The upright will rule over them in the morning, and their form will waste away in Sheol, far from their lofty abode.
- Psalms 146:3Do not trust in nobles, in a son of man, who cannot save.
- Isaiah 14:16Those who see you will stare at you; they will look closely at you: “Is this the man who caused the earth to tremble, who shook the kingdoms,
- Luke 16:22One day the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried.
- James 1:11For the sun rises and, together with the scorching wind, dries up the grass; its flower falls off, and its beautiful appearance perishes. In the same way, the rich person will wither away while pursuing his activities.
- Job 36:12But if they do not listen, they will cross the river of death and die without knowledge.
- Psalms 49:20Mankind, with his assets but without understanding, is like the animals that perish.
- Isaiah 2:22Put no more trust in a mere human, who has only the breath in his nostrils. What is he really worth?
- Luke 12:20“But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life is demanded of you. And the things you have prepared — whose will they be?’
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
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