the Week of Proper 11 / Ordinary 16
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Complete Jewish Bible
Job 21:7
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Why do the wicked continue to live,growing old and becoming powerful?
"Why do the wicked live, Become old, yes, and grow mighty in power?
Wherefore do the wicked live, become old, yea, are mighty in power?
Why do the wicked live, reach old age, and grow mighty in power?
Why do evil people live a long time? They grow old and become more powerful.
"Why do the wicked go on living, grow old, even increase in power?
"Why do the wicked still live, Become old, and become mighty in power?
"Why do the wicked still live, Grow old, and also become very powerful?
"Why do the wicked live, Become old, yes, and grow mighty in power?
Wherefore do the wicked liue, and waxe olde, and grow in wealth?
Why do the wicked still live,Continue on, also become very powerful?
Why do the wicked live on, growing old and increasing in power?
Why do evil people live so long and gain such power?
Wherefore do the wicked live, grow old, yea, become mighty in power?
Why do evil people live long lives? Why do they grow old and successful?
Why do the ungodly live, and why are the mighty in power full of years?
Why does God let evil people live, let them grow old and prosper?
"Why do the wicked live, grow old, even grow mighty in power?
Why do the wicked live? They grow old, and become mighty in power.
Wherfore do wicked me lyue in health and prosperite, come to their olde age, & increase in riches?
Wherefore do the wicked live, Become old, yea, wax mighty in power?
Why is life given to the evil-doers? why do they become old and strong in power?
Wherefore do the wicked live, become old, yea, wax mighty in power?
Wherefore doe the wicked liue, become old, yea, are mightie in power?
Wherefore do wicked men liue, come to their olde age, and increase in richesse?
Wherefore do the ungodly live, and grow old even in wealth?
Wherefore do the wicked live, become old, yea, wax mighty in power?
Whi therfor lyuen wickid men? Thei ben enhaunsid, and coumfortid with richessis.
Why do the wicked live, Become old, yes, wax mighty in power?
Why do the wicked live, become old, and, are mighty in power?
Why do the wicked live and become old, Yes, become mighty in power?
"Why do the wicked prosper, growing old and powerful?
Why do the sinful live, become old, and become very powerful?
Why do the wicked live on, reach old age, and grow mighty in power?
Wherefore do, lawless men, live, advance in years, even wax mighty in power?
Why then do the wicked live, are they advanced, and strengthened with riches?
Why do the wicked live, reach old age, and grow mighty in power?
Wherefore do the wicked live? They have become old, Yea, they have been mighty in wealth.
"Why do the wicked still live, Continue on, also become very powerful?
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
Wherefore: Job 12:6, Psalms 17:10, Psalms 73:3-12, Jeremiah 12:1-3, Habakkuk 1:15, Habakkuk 1:16
mighty: Psalms 37:35, Daniel 4:17, Revelation 13:2-7, Revelation 17:2-4
Reciprocal: Job 5:24 - thou shalt know Job 8:16 - green Job 9:24 - earth Job 34:36 - his answers Job 36:6 - preserveth Psalms 17:14 - belly Psalms 37:7 - the man Psalms 73:6 - Therefore Psalms 92:7 - workers Ecclesiastes 7:15 - there is a wicked Ecclesiastes 9:2 - alike Joel 1:2 - ye old Habakkuk 1:4 - for Malachi 3:15 - yea Mark 10:22 - for Luke 6:24 - woe
Cross-References
Avraham became very distressed over this matter of his son.
But God said to Avraham, "Don't be distressed because of the boy and your slave-girl. Listen to everything Sarah says to you, because it is your descendants through Yitz'chak who will be counted.
When they made the covenant at Be'er-Sheva, Avimelekh departed with Pikhol the commander of his army and returned to the land of the P'lishtim.
Avraham lived for a long time as a foreigner in the land of the P'lishtim.
thus one can't put a spell on Ya‘akov, no magic will work against Isra'el. It can now be said of Ya‘akov and Isra'el, ‘What is this that God has done?!'
There is none like you among the gods, Adonai; no deeds compare with yours.
For you are great, and you do wonders; you alone are God.
Then you will ask yourself, "Who fathered these for me? I've been mourning my children, alone, as an exile, wandering to and fro; so who has raised these? I was left alone, so where have these come from?"
Who ever heard of such a thing? Who has ever seen such things? Is a country born in one day? Is a nation brought forth all at once? For as soon as Tziyon went into labor, she brought forth her children.
is for the rulers and authorities in heaven to learn, through the existence of the Messianic Community, how many-sided God's wisdom is.
Gill's Notes on the Bible
Wherefore do the wicked live,.... Which question is put either to God himself, as not knowing ow to account for it, or to reconcile it to his divine perfections; that he, a holy, just, and righteous Being, should suffer such wretches to live upon his earth, who had been, and still were, continually sinning against him, transgressing his law, and trampling under foot his power and authority; when he, a man that feared the Lord, as God himself had borne witness of him, laboured under such heavy affliction, that he seemed rather to die than live: or else it is put to his friends, to whom he appeals for the truth of it, as Zophar had to him, about the short time of the prosperity of the wicked, Job 10:4; and desires them to try how they could make such undeniable facts comport with their own principles, that wicked men are always and only afflicted to any great degree, and not holy and good men; but if so, it is asked, why do they "live", even live at all? why is not their breath stopped at once, that breathe out nothing but sin and wickedness? or why are they "lively?" as Mr. Broughton renders the word; that is, brisk, cheerful, and jocund, live merrily, having an abundance of this world's good things; call upon themselves to eat, drink, and be merry, and indulge themselves in all the gratifications of sensual pleasures and delights; live at ease, in peace and outward comfort, and are not in trouble as other men, having nothing to disturb, disquiet, and distress them; nay, not only live comfortably, but live long: while a righteous man perishes or dies in his righteousness, the wicked man prolongs his life in his wickedness, Ecclesiastes 7:15, as it follows:
become old; live to a considerable old age, as Ishmael did, to whom he may have respect, as well as to some others within his knowledge; or are "durable" n, not only in age, as the sinner is supposed to die, and sometimes does die an hundred years old, or more, but in wealth and riches, in outward prosperity; for though spiritual riches are only durable riches, in opposition to temporal ones, yet these sometimes endure with a wicked man, and he endures with them as long as he lives, as may be seen in the instances of wicked rich men in
Luke 12:16; with which agrees what follows:
yea, are mighty in power? are in great authority among men, being kings, princes, civil magistrates, see Psalms 37:35; are advanced to great dignity and honour, as the twelve princes that sprung from Ishmael, and the race of kings and dukes that came from Esau. Mr. Broughton renders it, "be mighty in riches", greatly increase in them; and so the Targum, possess substance or riches.
n עתקו "durant", Mercerus, Cocceius, Michaelis; "edurant", Schultens.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
Wherefore 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 a great age; and that they are surrounded with the comforts of life in an eminent degree. The meaning is, “If you are positive that the wicked are treated according to their character in this life - that great wickedness is followed by great judgments, how is it to be accounted for that they live, and grow old, and are mighty in power?” Job assumes the fact to be so, and proceeds to argue as if that were indisputable. It is remarkable, that the fact was not adverted to at an earlier period of the debate. It would have done much to settle the controversy. The “question,” “Why do the wicked live?” is one of great importance at all times, and one which it is natural to ask, but which it is not even yet always easy to answer. “Some” points are clear, and may be easily suggested. They are such as these - They live
(1) to show the forbearance and long suffering of God;
(2) to furnish a full illustration of the character of the human heart;
(3) to afford them ample space for repentance, so that there shall not be the semblance of a ground of complaint when they are called before God, and are condemned;
(4) because God intends to make some of them the monuments of his mercy, and more fully to display the riches of his grace in their conversion, as he did in the case of Paul, Augustine, John Bunyan, and John Newton;
(5) they may be preserved to be the instruments of his executing some important purpose by them, as was the case with Pharaoh, Sennacherib, and Nebuchadnezzar; or,
(6) he keeps them, that the great interests of society may be carried on; that the affairs of the commercial and the political world may be forwarded by their skill and talent.
For some, or all of these purposes, it may be, the wicked are kept in the land of the living, and are favored with great external prosperity, while many a Christian is oppressed, afflicted, and crushed to the dust. Of the “fact,” there can be no doubt; of the “reasons” for the fact, there will be a fuller development in the future world than there can be now.
Become old - The friends of Job had maintained that the wicked would be cut off. Job, on the other hand, affirms that they live on to old age. The “fact” is, that many of the wicked are cut off for their sins in early life, but that some live on to an extreme old age. The argument of Job is founded on the fact, that “any” should live to old age, as, according to the principles of his friends, “all” were treated in this life according to their character.
Yea, are mighty in power - Or, rather, “in wealth” - חיל chayı̂l. Jerome, “Are comforted in riches” - ”confortatique divitiis.” So the Septuagint, ἐν πλούτῳ en ploutō. The idea is, that they become very rich.
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
Verse Job 21:7. Wherefore 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 your maxims?
