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Job 21:19

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!

Job 21:19 in Other Translations

King James Version (KJV)
19 God layeth up his iniquity for his children: he rewardeth him, and he shall know it.
English Standard Version (ESV)
19 You say, 'God stores up their iniquity for their children.' Let him pay it out to them, that they may know it.
New Living Translation (NLT)
19 “‘Well,’ you say, ‘at least God will punish their children!’ But I say he should punish the ones who sin, so that they understand his judgment.
The Message Bible (MSG)
19 You might say, 'God is saving up the punishment for their children.' I say, 'Give it to them right now so they'll know what they've done!'
American Standard Version (ASV)
19 [Ye say], God layeth up his iniquity for his children. Let him recompense it unto himself, that he may know it:
GOD'S WORD Translation (GW)
19 "[You say,] 'God saves a person's punishment for his children.' God should pay back that person so that he would know that it is a punishment.
Holman Christian Standard Bible (CSB)
19 God reserves a person's punishment for his children. Let God repay the person himself, so that he may know [it].
New International Reader's Version (NIRV)
19 People say, 'God punishes a man's children for his sins.' But let him punish the man himself. Then he'll learn a lesson from it.

Job 21:19 Meaning and Commentary

Job 21:19

God layeth up his iniquity for his children
This is a prevention of an objection which Job foresaw his friends would make, and therefore takes it up and answers to it; you will say, that, be it so, that the wicked are for the most part prosperous, and their prosperity continues; God does not punish them now for their sins in their own persons, yet he will punish them in their children, for whom he reserves the punishment of their iniquity: this way go many of the Jewish commentators F25, in which they are followed by many Christian interpreters F26; and, as it seems, very rightly; now this Job grants, that so it is, God takes notice of the iniquities of men, and lays them up in his mind, and puts them down in the book of his remembrance; he reserves the punishment of their iniquities for their children, iniquity being often put for the punishment of it; this is laid up among his stores of vengeance, and is treasured up against the day of wrath; and when they have filled up the measure of their father's sins by their own transgressions, the deserved punishment shall be inflicted, according to ( Exodus 20:5 ) ; but this will not clear the case, nor support the notions and sentiments of Job's friends, who had all along given out, that wicked men are punished themselves as well as their children; and that, if they are at any time in prosperous circumstances, it is only for a little while; and therefore agreeably to such notions God should take other methods with them, not punish their children only, but themselves, as Job argues in answer to the objection in ( Job 21:18 Job 21:19 ) :

he rewarded him, and he shall know [it];
or "he should reward him, and he should know it" F1; and so the word "should" is to be put instead of "shall" in ( Job 21:20 ) , which directs to the true sense of these clauses: and the meaning of Job is, that according to the sentiments of his friends, God should reward a wicked man while he lives in his own body, and not in his posterity only; he should render to them a just recompence of reward of their evil works, the demerit of their sins; and in such a manner, that they should know it, be sensible of it, and feel it themselves, and perceive the evil of sin in the punishment of it; see ( Hosea 9:7 ) .


FOOTNOTES:

F25 Nachmanides, Jarchi, Ben Gersom, Bar Tzemach.
F26 Beza, Cocceius, Schultens.
F1 (edyw wyla Mlvy) "redderet illi, et (hoc) sciret", Beza; "retribueret ipsi potius, et sentiret", Cocceius.

Job 21:19 In-Context

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.
21 For what do they care about the families they leave behind when their allotted months come to an end?

Cross References 2

  • 1. Exodus 20:5; Jeremiah 31:29; Ezekiel 18:2; John 9:2
  • 2. Jeremiah 25:14; Jeremiah 50:29; Jeremiah 51:6,24,56
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