Job 10:21
New International Version
before I go to the place of no return, to the land of gloom and utter darkness,

New Living Translation
before I leave—never to return— for the land of darkness and utter gloom.

English Standard Version
before I go—and I shall not return— to the land of darkness and deep shadow,

Berean Standard Bible
before I go—never to return—to a land of darkness and gloom,

King James Bible
Before I go whence I shall not return, even to the land of darkness and the shadow of death;

New King James Version
Before I go to the place from which I shall not return, To the land of darkness and the shadow of death,

New American Standard Bible
Before I go—and I shall not return— To the land of darkness and deep shadow,

NASB 1995
Before I go— and I shall not return— To the land of darkness and deep shadow,

NASB 1977
Before I go—and I shall not return— To the land of darkness and deep shadow;

Legacy Standard Bible
Before I go—and I shall not return— To the land of darkness and shadow of death,

Amplified Bible
Before I go—and I shall not return— To the land of darkness and the deep shadow [of death],

Christian Standard Bible
before I go to a land of darkness and gloom, never to return.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
before I go to a land of darkness and gloom, never to return.

American Standard Version
Before I go whence I shall not return, Even to the land of darkness and of the shadow of death;

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
Before I shall go and I shall not return again, to the land of darkness and of the shadows of death

Brenton Septuagint Translation
before I go whence I shall not return, to a land of darkness and gloominess;

Contemporary English Version
before I travel to the land

Douay-Rheims Bible
Before I go, and return no more, to a land that is dark and covered with the mist of death:

English Revised Version
Before I go whence I shall not return, even to the land of darkness and of the shadow of death;

GOD'S WORD® Translation
before I go away to a land of darkness and gloom,

Good News Translation
I am going soon and will never come back--going to a land that is dark and gloomy,

International Standard Version
before I go, never to return, leaving for the land of deep darkness and shadow.

JPS Tanakh 1917
Before I go whence I shall not return, Even to the land of darkness and of the shadow of death;

Literal Standard Version
Before I go, and do not return, | To a land of darkness and death-shade,

Majority Standard Bible
before I go—never to return—to a land of darkness and gloom,

New American Bible
Before I go whence I shall not return, to the land of darkness and of gloom,

NET Bible
before I depart, never to return, to the land of darkness and the deepest shadow,

New Revised Standard Version
before I go, never to return, to the land of gloom and deep darkness,

New Heart English Bible
before I go where I shall not return from, to the land of darkness and of the shadow of death;

Webster's Bible Translation
Before I go whence I shall not return, even to the land of darkness, and the shades of death;

World English Bible
before I go where I will not return from, to the land of darkness and of the shadow of death;

Young's Literal Translation
Before I go, and return not, Unto a land of darkness and death-shade,

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Job's Plea to God
20Are my days not few? Withdraw from me, that I may have a little comfort, 21before I go— never to return— to a land of darkness and gloom, 22to a land of utter darkness, of deep shadow and disorder, where even the light is like darkness.”…

Cross References
2 Samuel 12:23
But 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."

Job 3:13
For now I would be lying down in peace; I would be asleep and at rest

Job 10:22
to a land of utter darkness, of deep shadow and disorder, where even the light is like darkness."

Job 16:22
For when only a few years are past I will go the way of no return.

Job 34:22
There is no darkness or deep shadow where the workers of iniquity can hide.

Job 38:17
Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Have you seen the gates of the shadow of death?

Psalm 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.


Treasury of Scripture

Before I go from where I shall not return, even to the land of darkness and the shadow of death;

I go whence

Job 7:8-10
The eye of him that hath seen me shall see me no more: thine eyes are upon me, and I am not…

Job 14:10-14
But man dieth, and wasteth away: yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he? …

2 Samuel 12:23
But now he is dead, wherefore should I fast? can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me.

the land

Job 3:5
Let darkness and the shadow of death stain it; let a cloud dwell upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it.

Psalm 88:6,11,12
Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the deeps…

the shadow.

Job 3:5
Let darkness and the shadow of death stain it; let a cloud dwell upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it.

Psalm 23:4
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

Jeremiah 2:6
Neither said they, Where is the LORD that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, that led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and of pits, through a land of drought, and of the shadow of death, through a land that no man passed through, and where no man dwelt?

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Job 10
1. Job, taking liberty of complaint, expostulates with God about his afflictions
18. He complains of life, and craves a little ease before death














Verse 21. - Before I go whence I shall not return (comp. Job 7:9; and see 2 Samuel 12:23). Even to the land of darkness and the shadow of death. Job's idea of the receptacle of the dead, while it has some analogies with the Egyptian under-world, and even more with the Greek and Roman conceptions of Hades or Orcus, was probably derived from Babylonia, or Chaldea, on which the land that he inhabited bordered (Job 1:17). It was within the earth, consequently dark and sunless (compare the Umbrae of the Romans, and Euripides's νέκρων κευθμῶνα καὶ σκότου πύλας), deep (Job 11:8), dreary, fastened with belts and bars (Job 17:16). The Babylonians spoke of it as "the abode of darkness and famine, where earth was men's food, and their nourishment clay; where light was not seen, but in darkness they dwelt; where ghosts, like birds, fluttered their wings; and where, on the doors and on the door-posts, the dust lay undisturbed" (Transactions of the Society of Biblical Archaeology, vol. 1. p. 118).

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
before
בְּטֶ֣רֶם (bə·ṭe·rem)
Preposition-b | Adverb
Strong's 2962: Non-occurrence, not yet, before

I go—
אֵ֭לֵךְ (’ê·lêḵ)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - first person common singular
Strong's 1980: To go, come, walk

never
וְלֹ֣א (wə·lō)
Conjunctive waw | Adverb - Negative particle
Strong's 3808: Not, no

to return—
אָשׁ֑וּב (’ā·šūḇ)
Verb - Qal - Imperfect - first person common singular
Strong's 7725: To turn back, in, to retreat, again

to
אֶל־ (’el-)
Preposition
Strong's 413: Near, with, among, to

a land
אֶ֖רֶץ (’e·reṣ)
Noun - feminine singular construct
Strong's 776: Earth, land

of darkness
חֹ֣שֶׁךְ (ḥō·šeḵ)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 2822: The dark, darkness, misery, destruction, death, ignorance, sorrow, wickedness

and gloom,
וְצַלְמָֽוֶת׃ (wə·ṣal·mā·weṯ)
Conjunctive waw | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 6757: Death-like shadow, deep shadow


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OT Poetry: Job 10:21 Before I go where I shall not (Jb)
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