New King James Version
Job 10:21
21Before I go to the place from which I shall not return, To the land of darkness and the shadow of death,
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 Living Translation (NLT)before I leave—never to return— for the land of darkness and utter gloom.
Context of Job 10:21
19I would have been as though I had not been. I would have been carried from the womb to the grave. 20Are not my days few? Cease! Leave me alone, that I may take a little comfort, Before I go to the place from which I shall not return, To the land of darkness and the shadow of death, 22A land as dark as darkness itself, As the shadow of death, without any order, 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 will see me no more; While your eyes are upon me, I shall no longer be.
- Job 14:10But man dies and is laid away; Indeed he breathes his last And where is he?
- 2 Samuel 12:23But now he is dead; why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me.”
- 2 Samuel 14:14For we will surely die and become like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again. Yet God does not take away a life; but He devises means, so that His banished ones are not expelled from Him.
- Isaiah 38:11I said, “I shall not see Yah, The Lord in the land of the living; I shall observe man no more among the inhabitants of the world.
- Job 3:5May darkness and the shadow of death claim it; May a cloud settle on it; May the blackness of the day terrify it.
- Psalms 88:6You have laid me in the lowest pit, In darkness, in the depths.
- Psalms 23:4Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
- Jeremiah 2:6Neither did they say, ‘Where is the Lord, Who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, Who led us through the wilderness, Through a land of deserts and pits, Through a land of drought and the shadow of death, Through a land that no one crossed And where no one dwelt?’
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
New King James Version — © 1982 Thomas Nelson, Inc
Commentaries