New Living Translation
Job 4:21
21Their tent-cords are pulled and the tent collapses, and they die in ignorance.
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 less will he trust people made of clay! They are made of dust, crushed as easily as a moth. 20They are alive in the morning but dead by evening, gone forever without a trace. Their tent-cords are pulled and the tent collapses, and they die in ignorance.
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 39:5You have made my life no longer than the width of my hand. My entire lifetime is just a moment to you; at best, each of us is but a breath.” Interlude
- Psalms 49:14Like sheep, they are led to the grave, where death will be their shepherd. In the morning the godly will rule over them. Their bodies will rot in the grave, far from their grand estates.
- Psalms 146:3Don’t put your confidence in powerful people; there is no help for you there.
- Isaiah 14:16Everyone there will stare at you and ask, ‘Can this be the one who shook the earth and made the kingdoms of the world tremble?
- Luke 16:22“Finally, the poor man died and was carried by the angels to sit beside Abraham at the heavenly banquet. The rich man also died and was buried,
- James 1:11The hot sun rises and the grass withers; the little flower droops and falls, and its beauty fades away. In the same way, the rich will fade away with all of their achievements.
- Job 36:12But if they refuse to listen to him, they will cross over the river of death, dying from lack of understanding.
- Psalms 49:20People who boast of their wealth don’t understand; they will die, just like animals.
- Isaiah 2:22Don’t put your trust in mere humans. They are as frail as breath. What good are they?
- Luke 12:20“But God said to him, ‘You fool! You will die this very night. Then who will get everything you worked for?’
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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