Job 21:18

21:18 How often are they like straw before the wind,

and like chaff swept away by a whirlwind?

Job 21:32-33

21:32 And when he is carried to the tombs,

and watch is kept over the funeral mound,

21:33 The clods of the torrent valley are sweet to him;

behind him everybody follows in procession,

and before him goes a countless throng.


tn To retain the sense that the wicked do not suffer as others, this verse must either be taken as a question or a continuation of the question in v. 17.

tn The verb used actually means “rob.” It is appropriate to the image of a whirlwind suddenly taking away the wisp of straw.

tn The verb says “he will watch.” The subject is unspecified, so the translation is passive.

tn The Hebrew word refers to the tumulus, the burial mound that is erected on the spot where the person is buried.

tn The clods are those that are used to make a mound over the body. And, for a burial in the valley, see Deut 34:6. The verse here sees him as participating in his funeral and enjoying it. Nothing seems to go wrong with the wicked.