New English Translation
Job 10:21
21before I depart, never to return, to the land of darkness and the deepest shadow,
Job 10:21 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)Before I go whence I shall not return, even to the land of darkness and the shadow of death;
- New International Version (NIV)before I go to the place of no return, to the land of gloom and utter darkness,
- English Standard Version (ESV)before I go—and I shall not return— to the land of darkness and deep shadow,
- New King James Version (NKJV)Before I go to the place from which I shall not return, To the land of darkness and the shadow of death,
Context of Job 10:21
19I should have been as though I had never existed; I should have been carried right from the womb to the grave! 20Are not my days few? Cease, then, and leave me alone, that I may find a little comfort, before I depart, never to return, to the land of darkness and the deepest shadow, 22to the land of utter darkness, like the deepest darkness, and the deepest shadow and disorder, where even the light is like darkness.”
Read all of Job 10Job 10:21 word by word
בְּטֶ֣רֶם אֵ֭לֵךְ וְלֹ֣א אָשׁ֑וּב אֶל־אֶ֖רֶץ חֹ֣שֶׁךְ וְצַלְמָֽוֶת׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Job 10:21
- Job 7:8The eye of him who sees me now will see me no more; your eyes will look for me, but I will be gone.
- Job 14:10But man dies and is powerless; he expires – and where is he?
- 2 Samuel 12:23But now he is dead. Why should I fast? Am I able to bring him back? I will go to him, but he cannot return to me!’”
- 2 Samuel 14:14Certainly we must die, and are like water spilled on the ground that cannot be gathered up again. But God does not take away life; instead he devises ways for the banished to be restored.
- Isaiah 38:11“I thought, ‘I will no longer see the Lord in the land of the living, I will no longer look on humankind with the inhabitants of the world.
- Job 3:5Let darkness and the deepest shadow claim it; let a cloud settle on it; let whatever blackens the day terrify it!
- Psalms 88:6You place me in the lowest regions of the pit, in the dark places, in the watery depths.
- Psalms 23:4Even when I must walk through the darkest valley, I fear no danger, for you are with me; your rod and your staff reassure me.
- Jeremiah 2:6They did not ask: ‘Where is the Lord who delivered us out of Egypt, who brought us through the wilderness, through a land of desert sands and rift valleys, through a land of drought and deep darkness, through a land in which no one travels, and where no one lives?’
Commentaries on Job 10:21
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 21I shall not return - I shall not return again from the dust to have a dwelling among men. To the land of darkness - See the notes on Job 3:5. There are here a crowd of obscure and dislocated terms, admirably expressive of the obscurity and uncertainty of the subject. What do we know of the state of separate spirits? What do we know of the spiritual world? How do souls exist separate from their respective bodies? Of what are they capable and what is their…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 21Before I go - from where “I shall not return.” To the grave, to the land of shades, to “That undiscovered country, from whose bourne No traveler returns.” To the land of darkness - This passage is important as furnishing an illustration of what was early understood about the regions of the dead. The essential idea here is that it was a land of darkness, of total and absolute night. This idea Job presents in a great variety of forms and phrases. He…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 14-22Verses 14-22 Job did not deny that as a sinner he deserved his sufferings; but he thought that justice was executed upon him with peculiar rigour. His gloom, unbelief, and hard thoughts of God, were as much to be ascribed to Satan's inward temptations, and his anguish of soul, under the sense of God's displeasure, as to his outward trials, and remaining depravity. Our Creator, become in Christ our Redeemer also, will not destroy the work of his hands in…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 20-22Earlier, Job described "Sheol" as a somewhat peaceful place (3:13–19). Now, he calls it a land of darkness and gloom (see also 7:9–10; 14:7–22).Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1-221. leave my complaint upon myself--rather, "I will give loose to my complaint" (Job 7:11).Read the comment
Topics related to Job 10:21
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Job 10
- 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
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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