Job 21:21-31

21 For why what pertaineth it to him of his house(hold) after him, though the number of his months be half taken away? (For what careth him about his family, or his children, after him, when his own days and months be numbered?)
22 Whether any man shall teach God knowing, which deemeth them that be (on) high? (Shall anyone teach God knowledge, he who even judgeth those who be on high?)
23 This evil man dieth strong and whole, rich and blessful to the world (rich and blessed before the world).
24 His entrails be full of fatness; and his bones be moisted with marrow.
25 And another man dieth in the bitterness of his soul, and without any riches.
26 Nevertheless they shall sleep together in (the) dust, and worms shall cover them.
27 Certainly I know your wicked thoughts, and your sentences against me.
28 For ye say, Where is the house of the prince? and where be the tabernacles of wicked men? (and where be the homes of the wicked?)
29 Ask ye this of each way-goer; and ye shall know, that he knoweth these same things,
30 that is, that an evil man shall be kept (safe) into the day of perdition, and he shall be led (forth unscathed un)to the day of strong vengeance.
31 Who shall reprove his ways before him? (Who shall rebuke him for his ways?) and who shall yield to him (for) those things, which he hath done?

Job 21:21-31 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.

Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.