New Living Translation
Job 21:19
19“‘Well,’ you say, ‘at least God will punish their children!’ But I say he should punish the ones who sin, so that they understand his judgment.
Job 21:19 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)God layeth up his iniquity for his children: he rewardeth him, and he shall know it.
- New International Version (NIV)It is said, ‘God stores up the punishment of the wicked for their children.’ Let him repay the wicked, so that they themselves will experience it!
- English Standard Version (ESV)You say, 'God stores up their iniquity for their children.' Let him pay it out to them, that they may know it.
- New King James Version (NKJV)They say, ‘God lays up one’s iniquity for his children’; Let Him recompense him, that he may know it.
Context of Job 21:19
17“Yet the light of the wicked never seems to be extinguished. Do they ever have trouble? Does God distribute sorrows to them in anger? 18Are they driven before the wind like straw? Are they carried away by the storm like chaff? Not at all! “‘Well,’ you say, ‘at least God will punish their children!’ But I say he should punish the ones who sin, so that they understand his judgment. 20Let them see their destruction with their own eyes. Let them drink deeply of the anger of the Almighty. 21For they will not care what happens to their family after they are dead.
Read all of Job 21Job 21:19 word by word
אֱל֗וֹהַּ יִצְפֹּן־לְבָנָ֥יו אוֹנ֑וֹ יְשַׁלֵּ֖ם אֵלָ֣יו וְיֵדָֽע׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Job 21:19
- Job 22:24If you give up your lust for money and throw your precious gold into the river,
- Deuteronomy 32:34“The Lord says, ‘Am I not storing up these things, sealing them away in my treasury?
- Matthew 6:19“Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal.
- Romans 2:5But because you are stubborn and refuse to turn from your sin, you are storing up terrible punishment for yourself. For a day of anger is coming, when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.
- Genesis 4:7You will be accepted if you do what is right. But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out! Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you. But you must subdue it and be its master.”
- Isaiah 53:4Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down. And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for his own sins!
- 2 Corinthians 5:21For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.
- Exodus 20:5You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children; the entire family is affected—even children in the third and fourth generations of those who reject me.
- Psalms 109:9May his children become fatherless, and his wife a widow.
- Isaiah 14:21Kill this man’s children! Let them die because of their father’s sins! They must not rise and conquer the earth, filling the world with their cities.”
- Ezekiel 18:14“But suppose that sinful son, in turn, has a son who sees his father’s wickedness and decides against that kind of life.
- Matthew 23:31“But in saying that, you testify against yourselves that you are indeed the descendants of those who murdered the prophets.
- Deuteronomy 32:41when I sharpen my flashing sword and begin to carry out justice, I will take revenge on my enemies and repay those who reject me.
- 2 Samuel 3:39And even though I am the anointed king, these two sons of Zeruiah—Joab and Abishai—are too strong for me to control. So may the Lord repay these evil men for their evil deeds.”
- Psalms 54:5May the evil plans of my enemies be turned against them. Do as you promised and put an end to them.
- Matthew 16:27For the Son of Man will come with his angels in the glory of his Father and will judge all people according to their deeds.
Commentaries on Job 21:19
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 19God layeth up his iniquity for his children - This is according to the declaration of God, Exodus 20:5; : "Visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me." This always supposes that the children, who are thus visited, have copied their parents' example; or that ill-gotten property is found in their hands, which has descended to them from their wicked fathers; and of this God, in his…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 19God layeth up his iniquity for his children - Margin, that is, “the punishment of iniquity.” This is a reference evidently to the opinion which “they” had maintained. It may be rendered, “You say that God layeth up iniquity,” etc. They had affirmed that not only did God, as a great law, punish the wicked in this life, but that the consequences of their sins passed over to their posterity; or, if “they” were not punished, yet the calamity would certainly…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
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 19It is said: Job was quoting and responding to his friends' arguments. God lays up one’s punishment for his children: Eliphaz and Zophar said this, but Job believed God should punish the people who sin (5:4; 20:10; see Ezekiel 18:19–20).Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1919. Equally questionable is the friends' assertion that if the godless himself is not punished, the children are (Job 18:19; 20:10); and that God rewardeth him here for his iniquity, and that he shall know it to his cost. So "know" (Ho 9:7).Read the comment
Topics related to Job 21:19
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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