New King James Version
Job 21:18
18They are like straw before the wind, And like chaff that a storm carries away.
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 Living Translation (NLT)Are they driven before the wind like straw? Are they carried away by the storm like chaff? Not at all!
Context of Job 21:18
16Indeed 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? How often does their destruction come upon them, The sorrows God distributes in His anger? They are like straw before the wind, And like chaff that a storm carries away. 19They say, ‘God lays up one’s iniquity for his children’; Let Him recompense him, that he may know it. 20Let his eyes see his destruction, And let him drink of the wrath of the Almighty.
Read all of Job 21Job 21:18 word by word
יִהְי֗וּ כְּתֶ֥בֶן לִפְנֵי־ר֑וּחַ וּ֝כְמֹ֗ץ גְּנָבַ֥תּוּ סוּפָֽה׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Job 21:18
- Job 13:25Will You frighten a leaf driven to and fro? And will You pursue dry stubble?
- Exodus 15:7And in the greatness of Your excellence You have overthrown those who rose against You; You sent forth Your wrath; It consumed them like stubble.
- Psalms 1:4The ungodly are not so, But are like the chaff which the wind drives away.
- Psalms 35:5Let them be like chaff before the wind, And let the angel of the Lord chase them.
- Psalms 83:13O my God, make them like the whirling dust, Like the chaff before the wind!
- Isaiah 5:24Therefore, as the fire devours the stubble, And the flame consumes the chaff, So their root will be as rottenness, And their blossom will ascend like dust; Because they have rejected the law of the Lord of hosts, And despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
- Isaiah 17:13The nations will rush like the rushing of many waters; But God will rebuke them and they will flee far away, And be chased like the chaff of the mountains before the wind, Like a rolling thing before the whirlwind.
- Isaiah 29:5“Moreover the multitude of your foes Shall be like fine dust, And the multitude of the terrible ones Like chaff that passes away; Yes, it shall be in an instant, suddenly.
- Isaiah 40:24Scarcely shall they be planted, Scarcely shall they be sown, Scarcely shall their stock take root in the earth, When He will also blow on them, And they will wither, And the whirlwind will take them away like stubble.
- Isaiah 41:15“Behold, I will make you into a new threshing sledge with sharp teeth; You shall thresh the mountains and beat them small, And make the hills like chaff.
- Jeremiah 13:24“Therefore I will scatter them like stubble That passes away by the wind of the wilderness.
- Hosea 13:3Therefore they shall be like the morning cloud And like the early dew that passes away, Like chaff blown off from a threshing floor And like smoke from a chimney.
- Nahum 1:10For while tangled like thorns, And while drunken like drunkards, They shall be devoured like stubble fully dried.
- Matthew 3:12His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and 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
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
New King James Version — © 1982 Thomas Nelson, Inc
Commentaries