Job 33:21

21 Their flesh is so wasted away that it cannot be seen; and their bones, once invisible, now stick out.

Job 33:21 Meaning and Commentary

Job 33:21

His flesh is consumed away, that it cannot be seen
All being gone, none left to be seen, nothing but skin and bones; and this partly through the vehemence of strong pain, and partly through the nausea of food; not being able to take anything for nourishment and the support of the fluids, and so quite emaciated:

and his bones [that] were not seen stick out:
which before were covered with flesh and fat, so that they could not be seen; but now the flesh and fat being wasted, they seem as if they rose up in an eminence, and stood out to be beheld; this was also Job's case, being reduced to a mere skeleton, ( Job 19:20 ) . Elihu, in this description of an afflicted man, seems to have Job chiefly in view, and by this would intimate to him that God had been, and was speaking to him by those afflictions, which he would do well to advert unto.

Job 33:21 In-Context

19 They are also chastened with pain upon their beds, and with continual strife in their bones,

20 so that their lives loathe bread, and their appetites dainty food.

21 Their flesh is so wasted away that it cannot be seen; and their bones, once invisible, now stick out.

22 Their souls draw near the Pit, and their lives to those who bring death.

23 Then, if there should be for one of them an angel, a mediator, one of a thousand, one who declares a person upright,