Lectionary Calendar
Tuesday, July 29th, 2025
the Week of Proper 12 / Ordinary 17
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Read the Bible

Easy-to-Read Version

Job 21:21

When their life is finished and they are dead, they will not care about the family they leave behind.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Wicked (People);   The Topic Concordance - Wickedness;  

Dictionaries:

- Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Greatness of God;   Hypocrisy;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Job, the Book of;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Wealth;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Pleasure;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
For what does he care about his family once he is dead,when the number of his months has run out?
Hebrew Names Version
For what does he care for his house after him, When the number of his months is cut off?
King James Version
For what pleasure hath he in his house after him, when the number of his months is cut off in the midst?
English Standard Version
For what do they care for their houses after them, when the number of their months is cut off?
New Century Version
They do not care about the families they leave behind when their lives have come to an end.
New English Translation
For what is his interest in his home after his death, when the number of his months has been broken off?
Amplified Bible
"For what pleasure does he have in his house and family after he is dead, When the number of his months [of life] is cut off?
New American Standard Bible
"For what does he care about his household after him, When the number of his months is at an end?
World English Bible
For what does he care for his house after him, When the number of his months is cut off?
Geneva Bible (1587)
For what pleasure hath he in his house after him, when the nomber of his moneths is cut off?
Legacy Standard Bible
For what desire does he have for his household after him,When the number of his months is cut off?
Berean Standard Bible
For what does he care about his household after him, when the number of his months has run out?
Contemporary English Version
Because after they are dead, they won't care what happens to their children."
Complete Jewish Bible
What joy can they have in their family after them, given that their months are numbered?
Darby Translation
For what pleasure should he have in his house after him, when the number of his months is cut off?
George Lamsa Translation
For what pleasure has he in his house after him, when a portion of his years shall be reserved for his posterity?
Good News Translation
When our lives are over, do we really care whether our children are happy?
Lexham English Bible
for what does he care for his house after him, when the number of his months is cut off?
Literal Translation
For what is his delight in his house after him, and his number of months is cut off.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
For whath careth he, what become of his housholde after his death? whose monethes passe awaye swifter then an arowe.
American Standard Version
For what careth he for his house after him, When the number of his months is cut off?
Bible in Basic English
For what interest has he in his house after him, when the number of his months is ended?
JPS Old Testament (1917)
For what pleasure hath he in his house after him? seeing the number of his months is determined.
King James Version (1611)
For what pleasure hath he in his house after him, when the number of his moneths is cut off in the middest?
Bishop's Bible (1568)
For what careth he for his house after his death, when the number of his monethes is cut short?
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
For his desire is in his house with him, and the number of his months has been suddenly cut off.
English Revised Version
For what pleasure hath he in his house after him, when the number of his months is cut off in the midst?
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
For whi what perteyneth it to hym of his hows aftir hym, thouy the noumbre of his monethis be half takun awey?
Update Bible Version
For what does he care for his house after him, When the number of his months is cut off?
Webster's Bible Translation
For what pleasure [hath] he in his house after him, when the number of his months is cut off in the midst?
New King James Version
For what does he care about his household after him, When the number of his months is cut in half?
New Living Translation
For they will not care what happens to their family after they are dead.
New Life Bible
For what does he care for his house and family after he is dead, when the number of his months is over?
New Revised Standard
For what do they care for their household after them, when the number of their months is cut off?
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
For what shall be his pleasure in his house after him, when, the number of his months, is cut in twain?
Douay-Rheims Bible
For what is it to him what befalleth his house after him: and if the number of his months be diminished by one half?
Revised Standard Version
For what do they care for their houses after them, when the number of their months is cut off?
Young's Literal Translation
For what [is] his delight in his house after him, And the number of his months cut off?
New American Standard Bible (1995)
"For what does he care for his household after him, When the number of his months is cut off?

Contextual Overview

17 But how often does God blow out their light? How often does trouble come to them? How often does God get angry with them and punish them? 18 Does God blow them away, as the wind blows straw or as strong winds blow the grain husks? 19 But you say, ‘God is saving their punishment for their children.' No! Let God punish the evil people themselves so that they will know what they have done! 20 Let them see their own punishment. Let them feel the anger of God All-Powerful. 21 When their life is finished and they are dead, they will not care about the family they leave behind. 22 "No one can teach God anything he doesn't already know. God judges even those in high places. 23 One person dies after living a full and successful life, a life completely safe and comfortable, 24 with a body that was well fed and bones that were still strong. 25 But another person dies after a hard life that has made them bitter, never having enjoyed anything good. 26 In the end, both of these people will lie together in the dirt. The worms will cover them both.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

For what: Job 14:21, Ecclesiastes 2:18, Ecclesiastes 2:19, Luke 16:27, Luke 16:28

the number: Job 14:5, Psalms 55:23, Psalms 102:24

Reciprocal: Deuteronomy 21:7 - General Psalms 17:14 - leave Psalms 102:23 - shortened Romans 5:1 - we have

Cross-References

Genesis 21:3
Abraham named his son Isaac.
Genesis 21:4
Abraham did what God commanded and circumcised Isaac when he was eight days old.
Genesis 21:34
And Abraham lived as a stranger for a long time in the country of the Philistines.
Numbers 10:12
So the Israelites began their journey. They left the desert of Sinai and traveled until the cloud stopped in the desert of Paran.
Numbers 12:16
After that the people left Hazeroth and traveled to the desert of Paran where they set up camp.
Numbers 13:3
So Moses obeyed the Lord 's command and sent out the Israelite leaders while the people were camped in the desert of Paran.
Numbers 13:26
The Israelites were camped near Kadesh, in the desert of Paran. The men went to Moses and Aaron and all the Israelites. They told Moses, Aaron, and all the people what they saw and showed them the fruit from the land.
Judges 14:2
When he returned home, he said to his father and mother, "I saw a Philistine woman in Timnah. I want you to get her for me. I want to marry her."
1 Samuel 25:1
Samuel died. All the Israelites met together and mourned his death. They buried him at his home in Ramah. Then David moved to the desert of Maon.
1 Corinthians 7:38
So the man who marries his fiancée does right, and the man who does not marry does better.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

For what pleasure [hath] he in his house after him,.... As, on the one hand, the prosperity of his children after his decease gives him no pleasure and delight, so, on the other hand, the calamities and distresses of his family for his sins and theirs give him no pain or uneasiness; he knows nothing that befalls them, and it is no part of his concern; and let what will befall them, he cares not for it; he feels it not, he is not sensible of it; and therefore to object that signifies nothing; see Job 14:21; or, "what business has he with his house after death?" the affairs d of his family do not at all concern him, one way or another; he is not affected with them; he can neither consider their happiness as a blessing nor their calamities as a punishment to him:

when the number of his months is cut off in the midst? the years, the months, and the days of the lives of men, are numbered and determined by the Lord, Job 14:5; which, when finished, the thread of life is cut off in the midst, from the rest of the months, which a man or his friends might have expected he would have lived; or rather, "when his number of the months is fully up" e; when the calculation of them is complete, and the full number of them is perfected; the sense is, what cares a wicked man for what befalls his family after his death, when he has lived out the full term of life in great outward happiness and prosperity; has lived to be full of days, of months, and years, to a full age, even to an age that may be truly called old age?

d So Schultens. e חצצו "integro numero calculis ducti sunt", Cocceius; "cumulatam sortem habuerint", Schultens.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

For what pleasure hath he ... - That is, what happiness shall he have in his family? This, it seems to me, is designed to be a reference to their sentiments, or a statement by Job of what “they” maintained. They held, that a man who was wicked, could have none of the comfort which he anticipated in his children, for he would himself be cut off in the midst of life, and taken away.

When the number of his months is cut off in the midst? - When his “life” is cut off - the word “months” here being used in the sense of “life,” or “years.” This they had maintained, that a wicked man would be punished, by being cut off in the midst of his way; compare Job 14:21.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Job 21:21. For what pleasure hath he in his house after him — What may happen to his posterity he neither knows nor cares for, as he is now numbered with the dead, and numbered with them before he had lived out half his years. Some have translated the verse thus: "Behold how speedily God destroys the house of the wicked after him! How he shortens the number of his months!"


 
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