7 Wherefore do the wicked live? They have become old, Yea, they have been mighty in wealth. 8 Their seed is established, Before their face with them, And their offspring before their eyes. 9 Their houses 'are' peace without fear, Nor 'is' a rod of God upon them. 10 His bullock hath eaten corn, and doth not loath. His cow bringeth forth safely, And doth not miscarry. 11 They send forth as a flock their sucklings, And their children skip, 12 They lift 'themselves' up at timbrel and harp, And rejoice at the sound of an organ. 13 They wear out in good their days, And in a moment 'to' Sheol go down. 14 And they say to God, 'Turn aside from us, And the knowledge of Thy ways We have not desired. 15 What 'is' the Mighty One that we serve Him? And what do we profit when we meet with Him?' 16 Lo, not in their hand 'is' their good, (The counsel of the wicked Hath been far from me.)
17 How oft is the lamp of the wicked extinguished, And come on them doth their calamity? Pangs He apportioneth in His anger. 18 They are as straw before wind, And as chaff a hurricane hath stolen away, 19 God layeth up for his sons his sorrow, He giveth recompense unto him—and he knoweth. 20 His own eyes see his destruction, And of the wrath of the Mighty he drinketh. 21 For what 'is' his delight in his house after him, And the number of his months cut off?
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Job 21:7-21
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.
Commentary on Job 21:17-26
(Read Job 21:17-26)
Job had described the prosperity of wicked people; in these verses he opposes this to what his friends had maintained about their certain ruin in this life. He reconciles this to the holiness and justice of God. Even while they prosper thus, they are light and worthless, of no account with God, or with wise men. In the height of their pomp and power, there is but a step between them and ruin. Job refers the difference Providence makes between one wicked man and another, into the wisdom of God. He is Judge of all the earth, and he will do right. So vast is the disproportion between time and eternity, that if hell be the lot of every sinner at last, it makes little difference if one goes singing thither, and another sighing. If one wicked man die in a palace, and another in a dungeon, the worm that dies not, and the fire that is not quenched, will be the same to them. Thus differences in this world are not worth perplexing ourselves about.