Job 21:3-13

3 Allow me, and I also will speak; After I have spoken, mock on.
4 As for me, is my complaint to man? Why shouldn't I be impatient?
5 Look at me, and be astonished. Lay your hand on your mouth.
6 When I remember, I am troubled. Horror takes hold of my flesh.
7 "Why do the wicked live, Become old, yes, and grow mighty in power?
8 Their child is established with them in their sight, Their offspring before their eyes.
9 Their houses are safe from fear, Neither is the rod of God upon them.
10 Their bulls breed without fail. Their cows calve, and don't miscarry.
11 They send forth their little ones like a flock. Their children dance.
12 They sing to the tambourine and harp, And rejoice at the sound of the pipe.
13 They spend their days in prosperity. In an instant they go down to She'ol.

Job 21:3-13 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 Hebrew Names Version is in the public domain.