Job 21:23-33

23 Una persona muere próspera,
muy cómoda y segura,

24 la viva imagen de la salud,
en excelente forma y llena de vigor.

25 Otra persona muere en amarga pobreza,
sin haber saboreado nunca de la buena vida.

26 Sin embargo, a los dos se les entierra en el mismo polvo;
los mismos gusanos los comen a ambos.

27 »Miren, yo sé lo que están pensando;
conozco los planes que traman contra mí.

28 Me hablarán de gente rica y malvada,
cuyas casas desaparecieron a causa de sus pecados;

29 pero pregunten a los que han visto mucho mundo
y ellos les dirán la verdad.

30 Los malvados se salvan en tiempos de calamidad
y se les permite escapar del desastre.

31 Nadie los critica abiertamente
ni les dan su merecido por lo que hicieron.

32 Cuando los llevan a la tumba,
una guardia de honor vigila su sepultura.

33 Un gran cortejo fúnebre va al cementerio.
Muchos presentan sus respetos cuando los sepultan
y descansan en paz bajo tierra.

Job 21:23-33 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.