Job 3:21
Translations
King James Version (KJV)
Which long for death, but it comes not; and dig for it more than for hid treasures;
American King James Version (AKJV)
Which long for death, but it comes not; and dig for it more than for hid treasures;
American Standard Version (ASV)
Who long for death, but it cometh not, And dig for it more than for hid treasures;
Basic English Translation (BBE)
To those whose desire is for death, but it comes not; who are searching for it more than for secret wealth;
Webster's Revision
Who long for death, but it cometh not; and dig for it more than for hid treasures;
World English Bible
Who long for death, but it doesn't come; and dig for it more than for hidden treasures,
English Revised Version (ERV)
Which long for death, but it cometh not; and dig for it more than for hid treasures;
Clarke's Job 3:21 Bible Commentary
Which long for death - They look to it as the end of all their miseries; and long more for a separation from life, than those who love gold do for a rich mine.
Barnes's Job 3:21 Bible Commentary
Which long for death - Whose pain and anguish are so great that they would regard it as a privilege to die. Much as people dread death, and much as they have occasion to dread what is beyond, yet there is no doubt that this often occurs. Pain becomes so intense, and suffering is so protracted, that they would regard it as a privilege to be permitted to die. Yet that sorrow "must" be intense which prompts to this wish, and usually must be long continued. In ordinary cases such is the love of life, and such the dread of death and of what is beyond, that people are willing to bear all that human nature can endure rather than meet death; see the notes at Job 2:4. This idea has been expressed with unsurpassed beauty by Shakespeare:
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely
The pangs of despised love. the law's delay,
The insolence of office. and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When be himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? Who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death -
The undiscovered country, from whose bourne
No traveler returns-puzzles the will;
And makes us rather bear those ills we have,
Than fly to others that we know not of.
continued...
Wesley's Job 3:21 Bible Commentary
3:21 Dig - Desire with as much earnestness as men dig for treasure: but it is observable, Job durst not do anything to hasten or procure his death: notwithstanding all his miseries, he was contented to wait all the days of his appointed time, 'till his change came, chap. 14:14 .