God’s Word Translation
Job 21:7
7“Why do the wicked go on living, grow old, and even become more powerful?
Job 21:7 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)Wherefore do the wicked live, become old, yea, are mighty in power?
- New International Version (NIV)Why do the wicked live on, growing old and increasing in power?
- English Standard Version (ESV)Why do the wicked live, reach old age, and grow mighty in power?
- New King James Version (NKJV)Why do the wicked live and become old, Yes, become mighty in power?
Context of Job 21:7
5Look at me, and be shocked, and put ⌞your⌟ hand over ⌞your⌟ mouth. 6When I remember it, I’m terrified, and shuddering seizes my body. “Why do the wicked go on living, grow old, and even become more powerful? 8They see their children firmly established with them, and they get to see their descendants. 9Their homes are free from fear, and God doesn’t use his rod on them.
Read all of Job 21Job 21:7 word by word
מַדּ֣וּעַ רְשָׁעִ֣ים יִחְי֑וּ עָ֝תְק֗וּ גַּם־גָּ֥בְרוּ חָֽיִל׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Job 21:7
- Job 12:6⌞But⌟ robbers’ tents are prosperous, and there is security for those who provoke God, for those whose god is their power.
- Psalms 17:10They have shut out all feeling. Their mouths have spoken arrogantly.
- Psalms 73:3because I was envious of arrogant people when I saw the prosperity that wicked people enjoy.
- Jeremiah 12:1O Lord, even if I would argue my case with you, you would always be right. Yet, I want to talk to you about your justice. Why do wicked people succeed? Why do treacherous people have peace and quiet?
- Habakkuk 1:15The Babylonians pull them all up with fishhooks, drag them away in nets, and gather them in dragnets. So they rejoice and are happy.
- Psalms 37:35I have seen a wicked person ⌞acting like⌟ a tyrant, spreading himself out like a large cedar tree.
- Daniel 4:17The guardians have announced this decision. The holy ones have announced this so that every living creature will know that the Most High has power over human kingdoms. He gives them to whomever he wishes. He can place the lowest of people in charge of them.’ ”
- Revelation 13:2The beast that I saw was like a leopard. Its feet were like bear’s feet. Its mouth was like a lion’s mouth. The serpent gave its power, kingdom, and far-reaching authority to the beast.
- Revelation 17:2The kings of the earth had sex with her, and those living on earth became drunk on the wine of her sexual sins.”
Commentaries on Job 21:7
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 7Wherefore do the wicked live - You have frequently asserted that the wicked are invariably punished in this life; and that the righteous are ever distinguished by the strongest marks of God's providential kindness; how then does it come that many wicked men live long and prosperously, and at last die in peace, without any evidence whatever of God's displeasure? This is a fact that is occurring daily; none can deny it; how then will you reconcile it with…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 7Wherefore do the wicked live? - Job comes now to the main design of his argument in this chapter, to show that it is a fact, that the wicked often have great prosperity; that they are not treated in this life according to their character; and that it is not a fact that men of eminent wickedness, as his friends maintained, would meet, in this life, with proportionate sufferings. He says, that the fact is, that they enjoy great prosperity; that they live to…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. 77. The answer is Ro 2:4; 1Ti 1:16; Psa 73:18; Ec 8:11-13; Lu 2:35-end; Pr 16:4; Ro 9:22. old--in opposition to the friends who asserted that sinners are "cut off" early (Job 8:12, 14).Read the comment
Topics related to Job 21:7
In the dictionaries
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
God’s Word Translation — © 1995 God’s Word to the Nations Bible Society
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