New English Translation
Job 4:21
21Is not their excess wealth taken away from them? They die, yet without attaining 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 to those who live in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed like a moth? 20They are destroyed between morning and evening; they perish forever without anyone regarding it. Is not their excess wealth taken away from them? They die, yet without attaining 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 39:5Look, you make my days short-lived, and my life span is nothing from your perspective. Surely all people, even those who seem secure, are nothing but vapor.
- Psalms 49:14They will travel to Sheol like sheep, with death as their shepherd. The godly will rule over them when the day of vindication dawns; Sheol will consume their bodies and they will no longer live in impressive houses.
- Psalms 146:3Do not trust in princes, or in human beings, who cannot deliver!
- Isaiah 14:16Those who see you stare at you, they look at you carefully, thinking: “Is this the man who shook the earth, the one who made kingdoms tremble?
- Luke 16:22“Now the poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried.
- James 1:11For the sun rises with its heat and dries up the meadow; the petal of the flower falls off and its beauty is lost forever. So also the rich person in the midst of his pursuits will wither away.
- Job 36:12But if they refuse to listen, they pass over the river of death, and expire without knowledge.
- Psalms 49:20Wealthy people do not understand; they are like animals that perish.
- Isaiah 2:22Stop trusting in human beings, whose life’s breath is in their nostrils. For why should they be given special consideration?
- Luke 12:20But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded back from you, but who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’
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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