Job 21:6-16

6 et ego quando recordatus fuero pertimesco et concutit carnem meam tremor

7 quare ergo impii vivunt sublevati sunt confortatique divitiis

8 semen eorum permanet coram eis propinquorum turba et nepotum in conspectu eorum

9 domus eorum securae sunt et pacatae et non est virga Dei super illos

10 bos eorum concepit et non abortit vacca peperit et non est privata fetu suo

11 egrediuntur quasi greges parvuli eorum et infantes eorum exultant lusibus

12 tenent tympanum et citharam et gaudent ad sonitum organi

13 ducunt in bonis dies suos et in puncto ad inferna descendunt

14 qui dixerunt Deo recede a nobis et scientiam viarum tuarum nolumus

15 quid est Omnipotens ut serviamus ei et quid nobis prodest si oraverimus illum

16 verumtamen quia non sunt in manu eorum bona sua consilium impiorum longe sit a me

Job 21:6-16 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.