Job 21:17 - Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown

Job 21:17

15 ^aWho is the Almighty, that we should serve Him?
And ^bwhat profit do we have if we pray to Him?’

16 Indeed¹ their prosperity is not in their hand;
^aThe 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 ^adistributes in His anger?

18 ^aThey are like straw before the wind,
And like chaff that a storm¹ carries away.

19 They say, ‘God¹ lays up one’s iniquity ^afor his children’;
Let Him recompense him, that he may know it.

Commentaries:

Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown

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Job 21:18 >>

Job 21:17

Job in this whole passage down to Job 21:21 quotes the assertion of the friends, as to the short continuance of the sinner's prosperity, not his own sentiments. In Job 21:22 he proceeds to refute them. "How oft is the candle" (lamp), etc., quoting Bildad's sentiment (Job 18:5-6), in order to question its truth (compare Matthew 25:8).

how oft—"God distributeth," etc. (alluding to Job 20:23, Job 20:29).

sorrows—UMBREIT translates "snares," literally, "cords," which lightning in its twining motion resembles (Psalms 11:6).

Other Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown entries containing Job 21:17:

Job 24:18-21
Job 27:11-23
Psalms 18:28
Isaiah 50:11
Jeremiah 25:10

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Job 21:18 >>

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