Job 21:23
in Job 21One man dies full of vigor, completely secure and at ease.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
One dieth in his full strength, Being wholly at ease and quiet:
KJV
One dieth in his full strength, being wholly at ease and quiet.
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This verse in Job 21
Commentary
8 notes on this verseVer. 23-25. One dieth in his full strength, being rich and prosperous. His inwards are full of fatness, and his bowels are moistened with marrow. And another dieth in the bitterness of his soul, and hath never any wealth. 62. These things being so, who may investigate the secrets of Almighty God, to find out wherefore He permits them so to be? Now to the Elect and the Lost, their life indeed is unlike, but the corruption of the flesh in death is no way unlike.
This site's exposition
One man dies full of vigor
on Job 21:23-24
One man "dies full of vigor, completely secure and at ease", a quick death where the friends' doctrine predicts wasting for a guilty life. Gill reads "his bones are rich with marrow" as a body still full of strength at death. The portrait names this man neither righteous nor wicked.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
Therefore, after he has established the sufficiency of divine knowledge, he then introduces material for a doubt which might arise about how he governs human beings in different ways because some are prosperous until their death whereas others die in misery. Temporal prosperity consists first …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
), being wholly at ease and quiet, under no apprehension at all of the approach of death, nor in any fear of it; but, on the contrary, because his breasts are full of milk and his bones moistened with marrow (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation
He overthrows the ground of their severe censures of him, by showing that the destruction of the wicked is reserved for the other world, and that they often escape to the last in this world (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
One dieth in his full strength,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
One dieth in his full strength - Margin, “very perfection,” or, “in the strength of his perfection.” The meaning is, that he dies in the very prime and vigor of life, surrounded with everything that can contribute to comfort. Of the truth of this position, no one can doubt; and the wonder is, that the friends of Job had not seen or admitted it. Being wholly at ease and quiet - That is, having everything to make them happy, so far as external circumstances are concerned.
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
One dieth in his full strength - In this and the three following verses Job shows that the inequality of fortune, goods, health, strength, etc., decides nothing either for or against persons in reference to the approbation or disapprobation of God, as these various lots are no indications of their wickedness or innocence. One has a sudden, another a lingering death; but by none of these can their eternal states be determined.
The words behind it
7 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| זֶ֗ה | zeh | this [one] | H2088 → | 1180 times |
| יָ֭מוּת | yamut | he will die | H4191 → | 839 times |
| בְּעֶ֣צֶם | beetzem | with limb[s] of | H6106 → | 126 times |
| תֻּמּ֑וֹ | tumo | completeness his | H8537 → | |
| כֻּ֝לּ֗וֹ | kulo | all of him | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| שַׁלְאֲנַ֥ן | shalanan | [is] at ease | H7946 → | |
| וְשָׁלֵֽיו׃ | veshaleiv | and at ease | H7961 → | 8 times |
זֶ֗הthis [one]
zehH2088 →1180 times
יָ֭מוּתhe will die
yamutH4191 →839 times
בְּעֶ֣צֶםwith limb[s] of
beetzemH6106 →126 times
תֻּמּ֑וֹcompleteness his
tumoH8537 →
כֻּ֝לּ֗וֹall of him
kuloH3605 →5413 times
שַׁלְאֲנַ֥ן[is] at ease
shalananH7946 →
וְשָׁלֵֽיו׃and at ease
veshaleivH7961 →8 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
5 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
Psalms 49:17For when he dies, he will carry nothing away; his abundance will not follow him down.
it leads to
- 1 Timothy 6:7
For we brought nothing into the world, so we cannot carry anything out of it.
- Job 27:19
He lies down wealthy, but will do so no more; when he opens his eyes, all is gone.
- Luke 16:24
So he cried out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue. For I am in agony in this fire.’
- 1 Corinthians 15:43
It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power.
- Ecclesiastes 5:15
As a man came from his mother’s womb, so he will depart again, naked as he arrived. He takes nothing for his labor to carry in his hands.
- 1 Timothy 6:7
About Job
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book XV; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.