Job 21:1-10

1 Then Job replied [to his friends],
2 "Listen carefully to my words, and let that be the comfort you offer me.
3 Bear with me while I speak. Then after I've spoken, you may go on mocking.
4 Am I complaining about a person? Why shouldn't I be impatient?
5 Look at me, and be shocked, and put [your] hand over [your] mouth.
6 When I remember it, I'm terrified, and shuddering seizes my body.
7 "Why do the wicked go on living, grow old, and even become more powerful?
8 They see their children firmly established with them, and they get to see their descendants.
9 Their homes are free from fear, and God doesn't use his rod on them.
10 Their bulls are fertile when they breed. Their cows give birth to calves and never miscarry.

Job 21:1-10 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.

GOD'S WORD® is a copyrighted work of God's Word to the Nations. Copyright © 1995 by God's Word to the Nations. All rights reserved. Used by permission.