Job 21:19-29

19 Deus servabit filiis illius dolorem patris et cum reddiderit tunc sciet
20 videbunt oculi eius interfectionem suam et de furore Omnipotentis bibet
21 quid enim ad eum pertinet de domo sua post se et si numerus mensuum eius dimidietur
22 numquid Deum quispiam docebit scientiam qui excelsos iudicat
23 iste moritur robustus et sanus dives et felix
24 viscera eius plena sunt adipe et medullis ossa illius inrigantur
25 alius vero moritur in amaritudine animae absque ullis opibus
26 et tamen simul in pulverem dormient et vermes operient eos
27 certe novi cogitationes vestras et sententias contra me iniquas
28 dicitis enim ubi est domus principis et ubi tabernacula impiorum
29 interrogate quemlibet de viatoribus et haec eadem eum intellegere cognoscetis

Job 21:19-29 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.

The Latin Vulgate is in the public domain.