1 Then Job answered and said,
2 Hear diligently my speech; And let this be your consolations.
3 Suffer me, and I also will speak; And after that I have spoken, mock on.
4 As for me, is my complaint to man? And why should I not be impatient?
5 Mark me, and be astonished, And lay your hand upon your mouth.
6 Even when I remember I am troubled, And horror taketh hold on my flesh.
7 Wherefore do the wicked live, Become old, yea, wax mighty in power?
8 Their seed is established with them in their sight, And their offspring before their eyes.
9 Their houses are safe from fear, Neither is the rod of God upon them.
10 Their bull gendereth, and faileth not; Their cow calveth, and casteth not her calf.
11 They send forth their little ones like a flock, And their children dance.
12 They sing to the timbrel and harp, And rejoice at the sound of the pipe.
13 They spend their days in prosperity, And in a moment they go down to Sheol.
14 And they say unto God, Depart from us; For we desire not the knowledge of thy ways.
15 What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? And what profit should we have, if we pray unto him?
16 Lo, their prosperity is not in their hand: The counsel of the wicked is far from me.
17 How oft is it that the lamp of the wicked is put out? That their calamity cometh upon them? That `God' distributeth sorrows in his anger?
18 That they are as stubble before the wind, And as chaff that the storm carrieth away?
19 `Ye say', God layeth up his iniquity for his children. Let him recompense it unto himself, that he may know it:
20 Let his own eyes see his destruction, And let him drink of the wrath of the Almighty.
21 For what careth he for his house after him, When the number of his months is cut off?
22 Shall any teach God knowledge, Seeing he judgeth those that are high?
23 One dieth in his full strength, Being wholly at ease and quiet:
24 His pails are full of milk, And the marrow of his bones is moistened.
25 And another dieth in bitterness of soul, And never tasteth of good.
26 They lie down alike in the dust, And the worm covereth them.
27 Behold, I know your thoughts, And the devices wherewith ye would wrong me.
28 For ye say, Where is the house of the prince? And where is the tent wherein the wicked dwelt?
29 Have ye not asked wayfaring men? And do ye not know their evidences,
30 That the evil man is reserved to the day of calamity? That they are led forth to the day of wrath?
31 Who shall declare his way to his face? And who shall repay him what he hath done?
32 Yet shall he be borne to the grave, And men shall keep watch over the tomb.
33 The clods of the valley shall be sweet unto him, And all men shall draw after him, As there were innumerable before him.
34 How then comfort ye me in vain, Seeing in your answers there remaineth `only' falsehood?
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Job 21
Commentary on Job 21 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 21
This is Job's reply to Zophar's discourse, in which he complains less of his own miseries than he had done in his former discourses (finding that his friends were not moved by his complaints to pity him in the least), and comes closer to the general question that was in dispute between him and them, Whether outward prosperity, and the continuance of it, were a mark of the true church and the true members of it, so that the ruin of a man's prosperity is sufficient to prove him a hypocrite, though no other evidence appear against him: this they asserted, but Job denied.
Job 21:1-6
Job here recommends himself, both his case and his discourse, both what he suffered and what he said, to the compassionate consideration of his friends.
Job 21:7-16
All Job's three friends, in their last discourses, had been very copious in describing the miserable condition of a wicked man in this world. "It is true,' says Job, "remarkable judgments are sometimes brought upon notorious sinners, but not always; for we have many instances of the great and long prosperity of those that are openly and avowedly wicked; though they are hardened in their wickedness by their prosperity, yet they are still suffered to prosper.'
Job 21:17-26
Job had largely described the prosperity of wicked people; now, in these verses,
Job 21:27-34
In these verses,