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

14But they say to God, ‘Leave us alone. We don’t want to know your ways. 15Who is the Almighty that we should serve him? What do we gain if we pray to him?’ Anyhow, isn’t their happiness in their own power? (The plan of the wicked is foreign to my way of thinking.) 17“How often is the lamp of the wicked snuffed out? How often does disaster happen to them? How often does an angry God give them pain? 18How often are they like straw in the wind or like husks that the 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 1:21He said, “Naked I came from my mother, and naked I will return. The Lord has given, and the Lord has taken away! May the name of the Lord be praised.”
• Job 12:9What creature doesn’t know that the Lord’s hands made it?
• Psalms 49:6They trust their riches and brag about their abundant wealth.
• Psalms 52:5But God will ruin you forever. He will grab you and drag you out of your tent. He will pull your roots out of this world of the living. Selah
• Ecclesiastes 8:8No one has the power to prevent the spirit of life from leaving. No one has control over the day of his own death. There is no way to avoid the war ⌞against death⌟. Wickedness will not save wicked people ⌞from dying⌟.
• Luke 16:2So the rich man called for his manager and said to him, ‘What’s this I hear about you? Let me examine your books. It’s obvious that you can’t manage my property any longer.’
• Job 22:18Yet, he filled their homes with good things. (The plan of the wicked is foreign to my way of thinking.)
• Genesis 49:6Do not let me attend their secret meetings. Do not let me join their assembly. In their anger they murdered men. At their whim they crippled cattle.
• Psalms 1:1Blessed is the person who does not follow the advice of wicked people, take the path of sinners, or join the company of mockers.
• Proverbs 1:10My son, if sinners lure you, do not go along.
• Proverbs 5:8Stay far away from her. Do not even go near her door.

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