Job 21:25-34

25 While another dies with a bitter soul, Never even tasting anything good.
26 "Together they 1lie down in the dust, And 2worms cover them.
27 "Behold, I know your thoughts, And the plans by which you would wrong me.
28 "For you say, 'Where is the house of 3the nobleman, And where is the 4tent, the dwelling places of the wicked?'
29 "Have you not asked wayfaring men, And do you not recognize their witness?
30 "For the 5wicked is reserved for the day of calamity; They will be led forth at 6the day of fury.
31 "Who will confront * * him with his actions, And who will repay him for what he has done?
32 "While he is carried to the grave, Men will keep watch over his tomb.
33 "The 7clods of the valley will gently cover him; Moreover, 8all men will follow after him, While countless * ones go before him.
34 "How then will you vainly 9comfort me, For your answers remain full of falsehood?"

Job 21:25-34 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 3:13; Job 20:11; Ecclesiastes 9:2
  • 2. Job 24:20; Isaiah 14:11
  • 3. Job 1:3; Job 31:37
  • 4. Job 8:22; Job 18:21
  • 5. Job 20:29; Proverbs 16:4; 2 Peter 2:9
  • 6. Job 21:17, 20; Job 40:11
  • 7. Job 3:22; Job 17:16
  • 8. Job 3:19; Job 24:24
  • 9. Job 16:2

Footnotes 6

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