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

14So they say to God, ‘Turn away from us! We do not want to know your ways. 15Who is the Almighty, that we should serve him? What would we gain if we were to pray to him?’ But their prosperity is not their own doing. The counsel of the wicked is far from me! 17“How often is the lamp of the wicked extinguished? How often does their misfortune come upon them? How often does God apportion pain to them in his anger? 18How often are they like straw before the wind, and like chaff swept away by a whirlwind?

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’s womb, and naked I will return there. The Lord gives, and the Lord takes away. May the name of the Lord be blessed!”
• 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 in their great riches.
• Psalms 52:5Yet God will make you a permanent heap of ruins. He will scoop you up and remove you from your home; he will uproot you from the land of the living. (Selah)
• Ecclesiastes 8:8Just as no one has power over the wind to restrain it, so no one has power over the day of his death. Just as no one can be discharged during the battle, so wickedness cannot rescue the wicked.
• Luke 16:2So he called the manager in and said to him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Turn in the account of your administration, because you can no longer be my manager.’
• Job 22:18But it was he who filled their houses with good things – yet the counsel of the wicked was far from me.
• Genesis 49:6O my soul, do not come into their council, do not be united to their assembly, my heart, for in their anger they have killed men, and for pleasure they have hamstrung oxen.
• Psalms 1:1How blessed is the one who does not follow the advice of the wicked, or stand in the pathway with sinners, or sit in the assembly of scoffers!
• Proverbs 1:10My child, if sinners try to entice you, do not consent!
• Proverbs 5:8Keep yourself far from her, and do not 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