Job 21:16

Job 21:16 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)Lo, their good is not in their hand: the counsel of the wicked is far from me.
• New International Version (NIV)But their prosperity is not in their own hands, so I stand aloof from the plans of the wicked.
• English Standard Version (ESV)Behold, is not their prosperity in their hand? The counsel of the wicked is far from me.
• New King James Version (NKJV)Indeed their prosperity is not in their hand; The counsel of the wicked is far from me.

Context of Job 21:16

14Yet they say to God, “Leave us alone! We don’t want to know your ways. 15Who is the Almighty, that we should serve him, and what will we gain by pleading with him?” But their prosperity is not of their own doing. The counsel of the wicked is far from me! 17How often is the lamp of the wicked put out? Does disaster come on them? Does he apportion destruction in his anger? 18Are they like straw before the wind, like chaff a storm sweeps away?

Job 21:16 word by word

הֵ֤ן לֹ֣א בְיָדָ֣ם טוּבָ֑ם עֲצַ֥ת רְ֝שָׁעִ֗ים רָ֣חֲקָה מֶֽנִּי׃Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• Lo, their goodטוּבţûb · goodnessH2898
• not in their handיָדyâd · handH3027
• the counselעֵצָה‛êtsâh · counselH6098
• of the wickedרָשָׁעrâshâ‛ · wickedH7563
• is farרָחַקrâchaq · to removeH7368

Cross-references for Job 21:16

• Job 1:21saying: Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will leave this life. The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
• Job 12:9Which of all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this?
• Psalms 49:6They trust in their wealth and boast of their abundant riches.
• Psalms 52:5This is why God will bring you down forever. He will take you, ripping you out of your tent; he will uproot you from the land of the living.Selah
• Ecclesiastes 8:8No one has authority over the wind to restrain it, and there is no authority over the day of death; no one is discharged during battle, and wickedness will not allow those who practice it to escape.
• Luke 16:2So he called the manager in and asked, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your management, because you can no longer be my manager.’
• Job 22:18But it was he who filled their houses with good things. The counsel of the wicked is far from me!
• Genesis 49:6May I never enter their council; may I never join their assembly. For in their anger they kill men, and on a whim they hamstring oxen.
• Psalms 1:1How happy is the one who does not walk in the advice of the wicked or stand in the pathway with sinners or sit in the company of mockers!
• Proverbs 1:10My son, if sinners entice you, don’t be persuaded.
• Proverbs 5:8Keep your way far from her. Don’t go near the door of her house.

Commentaries on Job 21:16

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 16Their good is not in their hand - With all their boasting and self-dependence, God only lends them his bounty; and though it appears to be their own, yet it is at his disposal. Some of the wicked he permits to live and die in affluence, provided it be acquired in the ordinary way of his providence, by trade, commerce, etc. Others he permits to possess it for a while only, and then strips them of their illegally procured property. The counsel of the wicked…Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 16Lo, their good is not in their hand - Schultens, Rosenmuller, and Noyes, suppose, I think, correctly, that this is to be understood ironically, or as referring to what “they” had maintained. “Lo! you say, that their good is not in their hand! They do not enjoy prosperity, do they? They are soon overwhelmed with calamity, are they? How often have I seen it otherwise! How often is it a fact that they continue to enjoy prosperity, and live and die in peace!”…Read the comment
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 7-16Verses 7-16 Job says, Remarkable judgments are sometimes brought upon notorious sinners, but not always. Wherefore is it so? This is the day of God's patience; and, in some way or other, he makes use of the prosperity of the wicked to serve his own counsels, while it ripens them for ruin; but the chief reason is, because he will make it appear there is another world. These prospering sinners make light of God and religion, as if because they have so much…Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1616. not in their hand--but in the hand of God. This is Job's difficulty, that God who has sinners prosperity (good) in His hand should allow them to have it. is--rather, "may the counsel of the wicked be far from me!" [Umbreit]. This naturally follows the sentiment of the first clause: Let me not hereby be thought to regard with aught but horror the ways of the wicked, however prosperous.Read the comment

Topics related to Job 21:16

• Sin
• Wicked (People)

In the dictionaries

• Good

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