Job 21:18

Job 21:18 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)They are as stubble before the wind, and as chaff that the storm carrieth away.
• New International Version (NIV)How often are they like straw before the wind, like chaff swept away by a gale?
• English Standard Version (ESV)That they are like straw before the wind, and like chaff that the storm carries away?
• New King James Version (NKJV)They are like straw before the wind, And like chaff that a storm carries away.

Context of Job 21:18

16Lo, their prosperity is not in their hand: The counsel of the wicked is far from me. 17How oft is it that the lamp of the wicked is put out? That their calamity cometh upon them? ThatGod distributeth sorrows in his anger? That they are as stubble before the wind, And as chaff that the storm carrieth away? 19Ye say, God layeth up his iniquity for his children. Let him recompense it unto himself, that he may know it: 20Let his own eyes see his destruction, And let him drink of the wrath of the Almighty.

Job 21:18 word by word

יִהְי֗וּ כְּתֶ֥בֶן לִפְנֵי־ר֑וּחַ וּ֝כְמֹ֗ץ גְּנָבַ֥תּוּ סוּפָֽה׃Read the interlinear

• areהָיָהhâyâh · to beH1961
• windרוּחַrûach · spirit: breathH7307
• chaffמוֹץmôts môts · chaffH4671

Cross-references for Job 21:18

• Job 13:25Wilt thou harass a driven leaf? And wilt thou pursue the dry stubble?
• Exodus 15:7And in the greatness of thine excellency thou overthrowest them that rise up against thee: Thou sendest forth thy wrath, it consumeth them as stubble.
• Psalms 1:4The wicked are not so, But are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.
• Psalms 35:5Let them be as chaff before the wind, And the angel of Jehovah drivingthemon.
• Psalms 83:13O my God, make them like the whirling dust; As stubble before the wind.
• Isaiah 5:24Therefore as the tongue of fire devoureth the stubble, and as the dry grass sinketh down in the flame, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust; because they have rejected the law of Jehovah of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
• Isaiah 17:13The nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters: but he shall rebuke them, and they shall flee far off, and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like the whirling dust before the storm.
• Isaiah 29:5But the multitude of thy foes shall be like small dust, and the multitude of the terrible ones as chaff that passeth away: yea, it shall be in an instant suddenly.
• Isaiah 40:24Yea, they have not been planted; yea, they have not been sown; yea, their stock hath not taken root in the earth: moreover he bloweth upon them, and they wither, and the whirlwind taketh them away as stubble.
• Isaiah 41:15Behold, I have made thee to be a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth; thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and shalt make the hills as chaff.
• Jeremiah 13:24Therefore will I scatter them, as the stubble that passeth away, by the wind of the wilderness.
• Hosea 13:3Therefore they shall be as the morning cloud, and as the dew that passeth early away, as the chaff that is driven with the whirlwind out of the threshing-floor, and as the smoke out of the chimney.
• Nahum 1:10For entangled like thorns, and drunken as with their drink, they are consumed utterly as dry stubble.
• Matthew 3:12whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly cleanse his threshing-floor; and he will gather his wheat into the garner, but the chaff he will burn up with unquenchable fire.

Commentaries on Job 21:18

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 18They are as stubble before the wind - "His fan is in his hand; he will thoroughly cleanse his floor, and the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire. Therefore the wicked shall not stand in the judgment, but shall be like the chaff which the wind driveth away." Were not this a common thought, I should have supposed that the author of this book borrowed it from Psalm 1:4. The original signifies that they shall be carried away by a furious storm; and…Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 18They are as stubble before the wind - According to the interpretation proposed of the previous verse, this may be read as a question, “How often is it that the wicked are made like stubble? You say that God deals with people exactly according to their characters, and that the wicked are certainly subjected to calamities; but how often does this, in fact, occur? Is it a uniform law? Do they not, in fact, live in prosperity, and arrive at a good old age?”…Read the comment
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 17-26Verses 17-26 Job had described the prosperity of wicked people; in these verses he opposes this to what his friends had maintained about their certain ruin in this life. He reconciles this to the holiness and justice of God. Even while they prosper thus, they are light and worthless, of no account with God, or with wise men. In the height of their pomp and power, there is but a step between them and ruin. Job refers the difference Providence makes between…Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1818. Job alludes to a like sentiment of Bildad (Job 18:18), using his own previous words (Job 13:25).Read the comment

Topics related to Job 21:18

• Chaff
• Death
• Stubble
• Wicked (People)

In the dictionaries

• Agriculture
• Chaff
• Stubble
• Tempest

Commentaries on Job 21

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Rashi on Tanakh
• Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings