Job 4 · Verse 20

Job 4:20

They are destroyed from morning to evening: they perish for ever without any regarding it.
Job 4:20, King James Version

Job 4:20 in other translations

BSBThey are smashed to pieces from dawn to dusk; unnoticed, they perish forever.
WEBBetween morning and evening they are destroyed. They perish forever without any regarding it.
ASVBetwixt morning and evening they are destroyed: They perish for ever without any regarding it.
YLTFrom morning to evening are beaten down, Without any regarding, for ever they perish.
DARBYFrom morning to evening are they smitten: without any heeding it, they perish for ever.
BBEBetween morning and evening they are completely broken; they come to an end for ever, and no one takes note.
WebsterThey are destroyed from morning to evening: they perish for ever without any regarding it.

What does Job 4:20 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
20. from morning to evening--unceasingly; or, better, between the morning and evening of one short day (so Ex 18:14; Is 38:12). They are destroyed--better, "they would be destroyed," if God withdrew His loving protection. Therefore man must not think to be holy before God, but to draw holiness and all things else from God (Job 4:17).

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 20 They are destroyed from morning to evening - In almost every moment of time some human being comes into the world, and some one departs from it. Thus are they "destroyed from morning to evening." They perish for ever - יאבדו yobedu; peribunt, they pass by; they go out of sight; they moulder with the dust, and are soon forgotten. Who regards the past generation now among the dead? Isaiah has a similar thought, Isa 57:1 : "The righteous perisheth, and No Man Layeth It to Heart: and merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come." Some think that Isaiah borrowed from Job; this will appear possible when it has been proved, which has never yet been done, that the writer of this book flourished before Isaiah. If, however, he borrowed the above thought, it must be allowed that it has been wondrously improved by coming through his hands.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Job 4:12-21

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…

Read the full comment on Job 4:12-21 →

Job 4:20 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

מִבֹּ֣קֶרmi.Bo.kerfrom morningH1242
לָעֶ֣רֶבla.'E.revto <the> eveningH6153
יֻכַּ֑תּוּyu.Ka.tuthey are crushed to piecesH3807
מִבְּלִ֥יmi.be.Libecause notH1097
מֵ֝שִׂ֗יםme.Sim[one who] setsH7760
לָנֶ֥צַחla.Ne.tzachto perpetuityH5331
יֹאבֵֽדוּ\׃yo.Ve.duthey perishH6

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Job 4:20

  • Job 20:7

    Yet he shall perish for ever like his own dung: they which have seen him shall say, Where is he?

  • 2 Chronicles 21:20

    Thirty and two years old was he when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years, and departed without being desired. Howbeit they buried him in the city of David, but not in the sepulchres of the kings.

  • Psalms 39:13

    O spare me, that I may recover strength, before I go hence, and be no more.

  • Job 18:17

    His remembrance shall perish from the earth, and he shall have no name in the street.

  • Proverbs 10:7

    The memory of the just is blessed: but the name of the wicked shall rot.

  • 2 Chronicles 15:6

    And nation was destroyed of nation, and city of city: for God did vex them with all adversity.

  • Psalms 90:5-6

    Thou carriest them away as with a flood; they are as a sleep: in the morning they are like grass which groweth up. In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth up; in the evening it is cut down, and withereth.

  • Job 14:20

    Thou prevailest for ever against him, and he passeth: thou changest his countenance, and sendest him away.

  • Job 14:2

    He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not.

  • Isaiah 38:12-13

    Mine age is departed, and is removed from me as a shepherd’s tent: I have cut off like a weaver my life: he will cut me off with pining sickness: from day even to night wilt thou make an end of me. I reckoned till morning, that, as a lion, so will he break all my bones: from day even to night wilt thou make an end of me.

  • Psalms 92:7

    When the wicked spring as the grass, and when all the workers of iniquity do flourish; it is that they shall be destroyed for ever:

  • Psalms 37:36

    Yet he passed away, and, lo, he was not: yea, I sought him, but he could not be found.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
destroyed. Heb. beaten in pieces.
2Ch 15:6; *marg
from morning.
Isa 38:12,13
they perish.
14:14; 16:22; Ps 39:13; 92:7
without.
18:17; 20:7; 2Ch 21:20; Ps 37:36; Pr 10:7

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Job 4:19

    How much less in them that dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, which are crushed before the moth?

  • Job 4:20

    They are destroyed from morning to evening: they perish for ever without any regarding it.

  • Job 4:21

    Doth not their excellency which is in them go away? they die, even without wisdom.

Read all of Job 4

Job 4:20 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		De la mañana á la tarde son quebrantados, y se pierden para siempre, sin haber quien lo considere.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Du matin au soir, ils sont frappés; ils périssent pour toujours sans qu’on y fasse attention.
German
Elberfelder 1871		Von Morgen bis Abend werden sie zerschmettert; ohne daß mans beachtet, kommen sie um auf ewig.
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		De mane usque ad vesperam succidentur; et quia nullus intelligit, in æternum peribunt.