Limitless Word
One dies in his full strength, being wholly at ease and quiet.
Job 21:23 · World English Bible
Parallel translations
  • KJV One dieth in his full strength, being wholly at ease and quiet.
  • BSB One man dies full of vigor, completely secure and at ease.
  • NKJV One dies in his full strength, Being wholly at ease and secure;
  • NASB “One dies in his full strength, Being wholly undisturbed and at ease;
  • NLT One person dies in prosperity, completely comfortable and secure,

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Quick answer

Job observes that one person dies in full strength, completely secure and at ease. Death comes to the comfortable as well as the suffering.

Overview

Job begins a contrast (vv. 23-26) showing the seeming randomness of how people die. Here a man dies healthy, prosperous, and untroubled. This counters the friends' claim that the wicked always die in misery. Job's reflection presses toward the truth that earthly circumstances do not reveal a person's standing before God.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 4

  • Ps 49:17for when he dies he will carry nothing away. His glory won’t descend after him.
  • Luke 12:19–21I will tell my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years. Take your ease, eat, drink, be merry.”’
  • Job 20:22–23In the fullness of his sufficiency, distress shall overtake him. The hand of everyone who is in misery shall come on him.
  • Ps 73:4–5For there are no struggles in their death, but their strength is firm.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (2)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Job videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Job 21:23YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on JobMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

Christ at the center

Job's cry for a mediator who can lay his hand on both God and man, and his confidence that 'my Redeemer lives' and will stand on the earth, reaches forward to Jesus the living Redeemer.

How Job 21:23 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Original language

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.