Job 21:18-28

18 They are like straw before the wind, And like chaff that a storm carries away.
19 They say, 'God lays up one's iniquity for his children'; Let Him recompense him, that he may know it.
20 Let his eyes see his destruction, And let him drink of the wrath of the Almighty.
21 For what does he care about his household after him, When the number of his months is cut in half?
22 "Can anyone teach God knowledge, Since He judges those on high?
23 One dies in his full strength, Being wholly at ease and secure;
24 His pails are full of milk, And the marrow of his bones is moist.
25 Another man dies in the bitterness of his soul, Never having eaten with pleasure.
26 They lie down alike in the dust, And worms cover them.
27 "Look, I know your thoughts, And the schemes with which you would wrong me.
28 For you say, 'Where is the house of the prince? And where is the tent, The dwelling place of the wicked?'

Job 21:18-28 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.

Footnotes 3

  • [a]. Literally his
  • [b]. Septuagint and Vulgate read bowels; Syriac reads sides; Targum reads breasts.
  • [c]. Vulgate omits the tent.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.