Job 10:21
in Job 10before I go—never to return—to a land of darkness and gloom,
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Before I go whence I shall not return, Even to the land of darkness and of the shadow of death;
KJV
Before I go whence I shall not return, even to the land of darkness and the shadow of death;
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This verse in Job 10
Commentary
12 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Before 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.
This site's exposition
Are my days not few
on Job 10:20-22
"Withdraw from me, that I may have a little comfort" asks a small mercy before an end Job assumes is near and final. He pictures "a land of utter darkness, of deep shadow and disorder, where even the light is like darkness," death as he understands it.
This site's exposition
never to return
Barnes finds here an early picture of the grave as a land of total darkness. Clarke notes how the gloomy, broken terms suit a place so little known. Matthew Henry adds that the grave holds no work, no praise and no light.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
In order to avoid scandalizing many who see his life end in affliction and sadness, it is not without reason that the righteous man asks for the termination of his ordeals. That is why [Job] said, "Before I go, never to return," evidently, to his …
Job wants to find relief before he has to go from where he cannot return. Therefore, he does not pray for himself, but to teach the friends who think that those who suffer hardship are evil but those who are free from hardship are righteous. …
The Medieval Church3 voices
But one could object: On the contrary you should rather be afflicted here for a little time so that when you go from here, you will find consolation. This can be interpreted in two ways. In one way by returning a second time to this …
Before I go whence I shall not return, even to a land of darkness, and covered with the shadow of death. For what is denoted by 'the land of darkness' saving the dreary caverns of Tartarus, which are covered by the shadow of eternal death, in that it keeps all the damned for evermore severed from the light of life. Neither is the place below improperly called a land. For all they that have been made captive by it, are held fast and firm.
This too can be explained in two ways. In one way it can be interpreted to express the hell (infernus) to which the souls of all men, even the souls of the just before Christ, descended. Although the just did not suffer sensible pains there, …
4 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Secondly, That there is no light there. In the grave there is thick darkness, darkness that cannot be felt indeed, yet cannot but be feared by those that enjoy the light of life. In the grave there is no knowledge, no comfort, no joy, no praising God, no working out our salvation, and therefore no light.
3 Is it good unto thee that thou shouldest oppress, that thou shouldest despise the work of thine hands, and shine upon the counsel of the wicked? 4 Hast thou eyes of flesh? or seest thou as man seeth? 5 Are thy days as the days of man? are thy years as man's days, 6 That thou enquirest after mine iniquity, and searchest after my sin?
quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — verbatim-scripture
Before I go whence I shall not return,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
I 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 employment? Who can answer these questions? Perhaps nothing can be said much better of the state than is here said, a land of obscurity, like darkness. The shadow of death - A place where death rules, over which he projects his shadow, intercepting every light of every kind of life. Without any order, ולא סדרים velo sedarim, having no arrangements, no distinctions of inhabitants; the poor and the rich are there, the master and his slave, the king and the beggar, their bodies in equal corruption and disgrace, their souls distinguished only by their moral character. Stripped of their flesh, they stand in their naked simplicity before God in that place.
The words behind it
8 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| בְּטֶ֣רֶם | beterem | <in> before | H2962 → | |
| אֵ֭לֵךְ | ʾelekh | I will go | H1980 → | 1546 times |
| וְלֹ֣א | velo' | and not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| אָשׁ֑וּב | ʾashuv | I will return | H7725 → | 1056 times |
| אֶל־ | ʾel- | to | H413 → | 5510 times |
| אֶ֖רֶץ | ʾeretz | [the] land of | H776 → | 2504 times |
| חֹ֣שֶׁךְ | choshekh | darkness | H2822 → | 80 times |
| וְצַלְמָֽוֶת׃ | vetzalmavet | and deep darkness | H6757 → | 18 times |
בְּטֶ֣רֶם<in> before
beteremH2962 →
אֵ֭לֵךְI will go
ʾelekhH1980 →1546 times
וְלֹ֣אand not
velo'H3808 →5168 times
אָשׁ֑וּבI will return
ʾashuvH7725 →1056 times
אֶל־to
ʾel-H413 →5510 times
אֶ֖רֶץ[the] land of
ʾeretzH776 →2504 times
חֹ֣שֶׁךְdarkness
choshekhH2822 →80 times
וְצַלְמָֽוֶת׃and deep darkness
vetzalmavetH6757 →18 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Job 3:5May darkness and gloom reclaim it, and a cloud settle over it; may the blackness of the day overwhelm it.
it leads to
- Job 10:21–22
before I go—never to return—to a land of darkness and gloom,
- Job 28:3
Man puts an end to the darkness; he probes the farthest recesses for ore in deepest darkness.
- Psalms 23:4
Even 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 2:6
They did not ask, ‘Where is the LORD who brought us up from the land of Egypt, who led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and pits, a land of drought…
- Ezekiel 34:12
As a shepherd looks for his scattered sheep when he is among the flock, so I will look for My flock. I will rescue them from all the places to which they were scattered…
- Job 10:21–22
Through
Job 16:22For when only a few years are past I will go the way of no return.
it leads to
Through
2 Samuel 12:23But now that he is dead, why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me.”
it leads to
- Genesis 37:35
All his sons and daughters tried to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. “No,” he said. “I will go down to Sheol mourning for my son.” So his father wept for him.
- Genesis 37:35
About Job
This page draws on 11 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on A. B. Davidson, The Book of Job, Cambridge Bible; Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments; Didymus the Blind, COMMENTARY ON JOB 10:18-22; Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Book of Job; Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book IX; Hesychius of Jerusalem, HOMILIES ON JOB 13.10.20B-22; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.