21:30 that the evil man is spared
from the day of his misfortune,
that he is delivered 1
from the day of God’s wrath?
21:31 No one denounces his conduct to his face;
no one repays him for what 2 he has done. 3
21:32 And when he is carried to the tombs,
and watch is kept 4 over the funeral mound, 5
21:33 The clods of the torrent valley 6 are sweet to him;
behind him everybody follows in procession,
and before him goes a countless throng.
21:34 So how can you console me with your futile words?
Nothing is left of your answers but deception!” 7
1 tn The verb means “to be led forth.” To be “led forth in the day of trouble” means to be delivered.
2 tn The expression “and he has done” is taken here to mean “what he has done.”
3 tn Heb “Who declares his way to his face? // Who repays him for what he has done?” These rhetorical questions, which expect a negative answer (“No one!”) have been translated as indicative statements to bring out their force clearly.
4 tn The verb says “he will watch.” The subject is unspecified, so the translation is passive.
5 tn The Hebrew word refers to the tumulus, the burial mound that is erected on the spot where the person is buried.
6 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.
7 tn The word מָעַל (ma’al) is used for “treachery; deception; fraud.” Here Job is saying that their way of interpreting reality is dangerously unfaithful.