New Living Translation
Job 21:7
7“Why do the wicked prosper, growing old and powerful?
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 stunned. Put your hand over your mouth in shock. 6When I think about what I am saying, I shudder. My body trembles. “Why do the wicked prosper, growing old and powerful? 8They live to see their children grow up and settle down, and they enjoy their grandchildren. 9Their homes are safe from every fear, and God does not punish 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 robbers are left in peace, and those who provoke God live in safety— though God keeps them in his power.
- Psalms 17:10They are without pity. Listen to their boasting!
- Psalms 73:3For I envied the proud when I saw them prosper despite their wickedness.
- Jeremiah 12:1Lord, you always give me justice when I bring a case before you. So let me bring you this complaint: Why are the wicked so prosperous? Why are evil people so happy?
- Habakkuk 1:15Must we be strung up on their hooks and caught in their nets while they rejoice and celebrate?
- Psalms 37:35I have seen wicked and ruthless people flourishing like a tree in its native soil.
- Daniel 4:17For this has been decreed by the messengers; it is commanded by the holy ones, so that everyone may know that the Most High rules over the kingdoms of the world. He gives them to anyone he chooses— even to the lowliest of people.”
- Revelation 13:2This beast looked like a leopard, but it had the feet of a bear and the mouth of a lion! And the dragon gave the beast his own power and throne and great authority.
- Revelation 17:2The kings of the world have committed adultery with her, and the people who belong to this world have been made drunk by 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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