Job 7:21

Why do You not pardon my transgression and take away my iniquity? For soon I will lie down in the dust; You will seek me, but I will be no more.”

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — Job addresses God directly, pleading for the removal of his guilt at the moment he anticipates his own imminent burial. The words — תִשָּׂא (ti.Sa') means "will you carry/forgive," and עֲוֹנִי ('a.Vo.N/i) means "my iniquity," anchoring the plea in the removal of moral debt. The thread — The verse’s imagery of dust and divine accounting echoes Job 10:14, the resurrection of the dust in Daniel 12:2, and the return of dust to the ground in Ecclesiastes 12:7. Why it lands — It demands that the reader face the tension between human mortality and the unmet request for pardon, leaving the divine response entirely open.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Hebrew words

וּמֶ֤ה׀u./Mehand/ why?לֹא־lo'-not תִשָּׂ֣אti.Sa'will you forgive פִשְׁעִי֮fish.'/Itransgression/ my וְתַעֲבִ֪ירve./ta.'a.Virso/ may you take away?אֶת־'et-<obj.>עֲוֹ֫נִ֥י'a.Vo.N/iiniquity/ my כִּֽי־ki-for עַ֭תָּה'A.tahnow לֶעָפָ֣רle./'a.Farto the/ dust אֶשְׁכָּ֑ב'esh.KavI will lie down וְשִׁ֖חֲרְתַּ֣נִיve./Shi.char.Ta./niand/ you will look for/ me וְאֵינֶֽנִּי׃ פve./'ei.Ne./niand/ there not [will be]/ me

King James Version

And why dost thou not pardon my transgression, and take away mine iniquity? for now shall I sleep in the dust; and thou shalt seek me in the morning, but I shall not be.

Cross-references

Job 10:14 If I sinned, You would take note, and would not acquit me of my iniquity.
Daniel 12:2 And many who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake, some to everlasting life, but others to shame and everlasting contempt.
Ecclesiastes 12:7 before the dust returns to the ground from which it came and the spirit returns to God who gave it.
Isaiah 64:9 Do not be angry, O LORD, beyond measure; do not remember our iniquity forever. Oh, look upon us, we pray; we are all Your people!
Lamentations 5:20 Why have You forgotten us forever? Why have You forsaken us for so long?
1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
2 Samuel 24:10 After David had numbered the troops, his conscience was stricken and he said to the LORD, “I have sinned greatly in what I have done. Now, O LORD, I beg You to take away the iniquity of Your servant, for I have acted very foolishly.”
Job 3:13 For now I would be lying down in peace; I would be asleep and at rest
Job 7:8 The eye that beholds me will no longer see me. You will look for me, but I will be no more.
Job 10:9 Please remember that You molded me like clay. Would You now return me to dust?