Job 8:21

21 till thy mouth be filled with laughter, and thy lips with hearty song.

Job 8:21 Meaning and Commentary

Job 8:21

Till he fill thy mouth with laughing, and thy lips with
rejoicing.
] Directing himself to Job; and suggesting, that if he was a perfect, sincere, and upright man. God would not cast him away utterly, but help him out of his present circumstances, and restore him to prosperity; and not leave him until he had filled his heart with so much joy, that his mouth and lips, being also full of it, should break forth in strong expressions of it, and in the most exulting strains, as if it was a time of jubilee with him; see ( Psalms 126:2 ) ; but Bildad tacitly insinuates that Job was not a perfect and good man but an evil doer, whom God had cast away and would not help; and this he concluded from the distressed circumstances he was now in; which was no rule of judgment, and a very unfair way of reasoning, since love and hatred are not to be known by outward prosperity and adversity, ( Ecclesiastes 9:1 ) . Bar Tzemach interprets "laughing" as at his own goodness, and "rejoicing" as at the evil of the wicked.

Job 8:21 In-Context

19 For this is the gladness of his way, that again other rushes spring out of the earth. (For this is the joy of its way, that other bulrushes shall spring out of the earth.)
20 Forsooth God shall not cast away a simple man, neither he shall address his hand to (help) wicked men; (But God shall not throw away a person who is without guile, nor shall he direct his hand to help the wicked;)
21 till thy mouth be filled with laughter, and thy lips with hearty song.
22 They that hate thee shall be clothed with shame; and the tabernacle of wicked men shall not stand (and the tents, or the homes, of the wicked shall not stand).
Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.