Job 21:10-20

10 Their cows conceive, and do not abort; their cows calve and do not cast forth their young.

11 They send forth their little ones like a flock of sheep, and their children dance.

12 They jump at the sound of the timbrel and harp and rejoice at the sound of the organ.

13 They spend their days in pleasure and in a moment go down to Sheol.

14 Therefore, they say unto God, Depart from us; for we do not desire the knowledge of thy ways.

15 Who is the Almighty that we should serve him? And what profit should we have if we pray unto him?

16 Behold that their good is not in their hands; the counsel of the wicked is far from me.

17 How often is the lamp of the wicked put out and their destruction comes upon them, and God distributes sorrows upon them in his anger.

18 They shall be as stubble before the wind and as chaff taken up by the whirlwind.

19 God shall lay up his violence for their sons; and he will reward him so that he shall know it.

20 His eyes shall see his destruction, and he shall drink of the wrath of the Almighty.

Job 21:10-20 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.