Job 21:1-11

Job Says God Will Deal with the Wicked

1 Then Job answered,
2 "Listen carefully to my speech, And let this be your way of consolation.
3 "Bear with me that I may speak; Then after I have spoken, you may 1mock.
4 "As for me, is 2my complaint to man? And 3why should I not be impatient?
5 "Look at me, and be astonished, And 4put your hand over your mouth.
6 "Even when I remember, I am disturbed, And 5horror takes hold of my flesh.
7 "Why 6do the wicked still live, Continue on, also become very 7powerful?
8 "Their 8descendants are established with them in their sight, And their offspring before their eyes,
9 Their houses 9are safe from fear, And the rod of God is not on them.
10 "His ox mates without fail; His cow calves and does not abort.
11 "They send forth their little ones like the flock, And their children skip about.

Job 21:1-11 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO JOB 21

This chapter contains Job's reply to Zophar's preceding discourse, in which, after a preface exciting attention to what he was about to say, Job 21:1-6; he describes by various instances the prosperity of wicked men, even of the most impious and atheistical, and which continues with them as long as they live, contrary to what Zophar had asserted in Job 20:5, Job 21:7-15; as for himself, he disapproved of such wicked men as much as any, and owns that destruction comes upon them sooner or later, and on their posterity also, Job 21:16-21; but as God is a God of knowledge, and needs no instruction from any, and is a sovereign Being, he deals with men in different ways; some die in great ease, and peace, and prosperity, and others in bitterness and distress, but both are alike brought to the dust, Job 21:22-26; and whereas he was aware of their censures of him, and their objections to what he had said, he allows that the wicked are reserved to the day of destruction, which is future, and in the mean while lie in the grave, where all must follow; yet they are not repaid or rewarded in this life, that remains to be done in another world, Job 21:27-33; and concludes, that their consolation with respect to him was vain, and falsehood was in their answers, Job 21:34.

Cross References 9

  • 1. Job 11:3; Job 17:2
  • 2. Job 7:11
  • 3. Job 6:11
  • 4. Judges 18:19; Job 13:5; Job 29:9; Job 40:4
  • 5. Psalms 55:5
  • 6. Job 9:24; Psalms 73:3; Jeremiah 12:1; Habakkuk 1:13
  • 7. Job 12:19
  • 8. Psalms 17:14
  • 9. Job 12:6

Footnotes 5

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