Job 21:18

18 How often are they like straw before the wind, like chaff swept away by a gale?

Job 21:18 in Other Translations

King James Version (KJV)
18 They are as stubble before the wind, and as chaff that the storm carrieth away.
English Standard Version (ESV)
18 That they are like straw before the wind, and like chaff that the storm carries away?
New Living Translation (NLT)
18 Are they driven before the wind like straw? Are they carried away by the storm like chaff? Not at all!
The Message Bible (MSG)
18 How often are they blown away by bad luck? Not very often.
American Standard Version (ASV)
18 That they are as stubble before the wind, And as chaff that the storm carrieth away?
GOD'S WORD Translation (GW)
18 How often are they like straw in the wind or like husks that the storm sweeps away?
Holman Christian Standard Bible (CSB)
18 Are they like straw before the wind, like chaff a storm sweeps away?
New International Reader's Version (NIRV)
18 How often are they like dried-up seed coverings blowing in the wind? How often are they like straw swept away by a storm?

Job 21:18 Meaning and Commentary

Job 21:18

They are as stubble before the wind
Or how oft "are they as stubble?" &c. or how oft does God do the above things, "so that they are", or "become, as stubble before the wind" F21,

and as chaff that the storm carrieth,
or "steals away" F24? hastily, suddenly, at an unawares like a thief: wicked men are comparable to stubble and chaff; for the vanity of their minds, their emptiness of all good things; for their lightness, the levity and inconstancy of their hearts, their principles and practices; for their uselessness and unprofitableness to God and men, to themselves and their fellow creatures; for their being fit fuel for everlasting burnings, their end like these being to be burned; and whose destruction is inevitable and irresistible, and can no more be withstood and prevented than stubble and chaff can stand before a strong wind and a stormy tempest: but is this their common case now? are they usually tossed to and fro with the wind of adversity, and the storms of desolating judgments? are they not, on the other hand, seen in great power, and spreading themselves like a green bay tree; taking root, increasing in outward prosperity, and bringing forth the fruit of it? see ( Psalms 37:35 ) ( Jeremiah 12:2 ) .


FOOTNOTES:

F21 (Nbtk wyhy) "ut sint velut palea", Tigurine version; so Broughton, "quoties sunt", Junius & Tremellius; "quoties fiunt", Piscator, Michaelis.
F24 (wtbng) "furatus est eam", Montanus; "suffuratur", Vatablus; "furatur", Drusius, Cocceius, Schultens.

Job 21:18 In-Context

16 But their prosperity is not in their own hands, so I stand aloof from the plans of the wicked.
17 “Yet how often is the lamp of the wicked snuffed out? How often does calamity come upon them, the fate God allots in his anger?
18 How often are they like straw before the wind, like chaff swept away by a gale?
19 It is said, ‘God stores up the punishment of the wicked for their children.’ Let him repay the wicked, so that they themselves will experience it!
20 Let their own eyes see their destruction; let them drink the cup of the wrath of the Almighty.

Cross References 4

  • 1. S Job 13:25; Psalms 1:4
  • 2. S Genesis 19:15
  • 3. S Job 7:10; Proverbs 10:25
  • 4. S Genesis 7:23
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