New English Translation
Job 21:7
7“Why do the wicked go on living, grow old, even increase in power?
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 appalled; put your hands over your mouths. 6For, when I think about this, I am terrified and my body feels a shudder. “Why do the wicked go on living, grow old, even increase in power? 8Their children are firmly established in their presence, their offspring before their eyes. 9Their houses are safe and without fear; and no rod of punishment from God is upon 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 12:6But the tents of robbers are peaceful, and those who provoke God are confident – who carry their god in their hands.
- Psalms 17:10They are calloused; they speak arrogantly.
- Psalms 73:3For I envied those who are proud, as I observed the prosperity of the wicked.
- Jeremiah 12:1Lord, you have always been fair whenever I have complained to you. However, I would like to speak with you about the disposition of justice. Why are wicked people successful? Why do all dishonest people have such easy lives?
- Habakkuk 1:15The Babylonian tyrant pulls them all up with a fishhook; he hauls them in with his throw net. When he catches them in his dragnet, he is very happy.
- Psalms 37:35I have seen ruthless evil men growing in influence, like a green tree grows in its native soil.
- Daniel 4:17This announcement is by the decree of the sentinels; this decision is by the pronouncement of the holy ones, so that those who are alive may understand that the Most High has authority over human kingdoms, and he bestows them on whomever he wishes. He establishes over them even the lowliest of human beings.’
- Revelation 13:2Now the beast that I saw was like a leopard, but its feet were like a bear’s, and its mouth was like a lion’s mouth. The dragon gave the beast his power, his throne, and great authority to rule.
- Revelation 17:2with whom the kings of the earth committed sexual immorality and the earth’s inhabitants got drunk with the wine of her immorality.”
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
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