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

16Behold, their prosperity is not in their hand; The counsel of the wicked is far from me. 17“How often is the lamp of the wicked put out, Or does their calamity fall on them? Does God apportion destruction in His anger? Are they as straw before the wind, And like chaff which the storm carries away? 19You say, ‘God stores away a man’s iniquity for his sons.’ Let God repay him so that he may know it. 20Let his own eyes see his decay, 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

• strawתֶּ֫בֶןteben · strawH8401
• beforeפָּנֶהpânîym · face: beforeH6440
• the windרוּחַrûach · spirit: breathH7307
• which the stormסוּפָהsûphâh · whirlwindH5492
• carriesגָּנַבgânab · to stealH1589

Cross-references for Job 21:18

• Job 13:25Will You cause a driven leaf to tremble? Or will You pursue the dry chaff?
• Exodus 15:7And in the greatness of Your excellence You overthrow those who rise up against You; You send forth Your burning anger, and it consumes them as chaff.
• Psalms 1:4The wicked are not so, But they are like chaff which the wind drives away.
• Psalms 35:5Let them be like chaff before the wind, With the angel of the Lord driving them on.
• Psalms 83:13O my God, make them like the whirling dust, Like chaff before the wind.
• Isaiah 5:24Therefore, as a tongue of fire consumes stubble And dry grass collapses into the flame, So their root will become like rot and their blossom blow away as dust; For they have rejected the law of the Lord of hosts And despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
• Isaiah 17:13The nations rumble on like the rumbling of many waters, But He will rebuke them and they will flee far away, And be chased like chaff in the mountains before the wind, Or like whirling dust before a gale.
• Isaiah 29:5But the multitude of your enemies will become like fine dust, And the multitude of the ruthless ones like the chaff which blows away; And it will happen instantly, suddenly.
• Isaiah 40:24Scarcely have they been planted, Scarcely have they been sown, Scarcely has their stock taken root in the earth, But He merely blows on them, and they wither, And the storm carries them away like stubble.
• Isaiah 41:15Behold, I have made you a new, sharp threshing sledge with double edges; You will thresh the mountains and pulverize them, And will make the hills like chaff.
• Jeremiah 13:24Therefore I will scatter them like drifting straw To the desert wind.
• Hosea 13:3Therefore they will be like the morning cloud And like dew which soon disappears, Like chaff which is blown away from the threshing floor And like smoke from a chimney.
• Nahum 1:10Like tangled thorns, And like those who are drunken with their drink, They are consumed As stubble completely withered.
• Matthew 3:12His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor; and He will gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff 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