Job 4:21 - Exposition

Doth not their excellency which is in them go away! "Their excellency" ( יתרם ) would seem to mean that which is highest in them—their spirit, or soul. It does not make much difference if we translate, with the Old Testament Revisers" their tent-cord," since that would be merely a metaphor for the soul, which sustains the body as the tent-cord does the tent. What deserves especial remark is that the "excellency" does not perish; it goes away, departs, or is removed. They die, even without wisdom; literally, not in wisdom ; i.e. not having learnt in the whole course of their lives that true wisdom which their life-trials were intended to teach them.