16 But their prosperity is not in their own hands, so I stand aloof from the plans of the wicked.
16 Lo, their good is not in their hand: the counsel of the wicked is far from me.
16 Behold, is not their prosperity in their hand? The counsel of the wicked is far from me.
16 But they're wrong, dead wrong - they're not gods. It's beyond me how they can carry on like this!
16 Indeed their prosperity is not in their hand; The counsel of the wicked is far from me.
16 (They think their prosperity is of their own doing, but I will have nothing to do with that kind of thinking.)
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Job 21:16
Commentary on Job 21:7-16
(Read Job 21:7-16)
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 of this world, they had no need to look after another. But religion is not a vain thing. If it be so to us, we may thank ourselves for resting on the outside of it. Job shows their folly.