Job 21:14-16

21:14 So they say to God, ‘Turn away from us!

We do not want to ¹  know your ways. ² 

21:15 Who is the Almighty, that ³  we should serve him?

What would we gain

if we were to pray ⁴  to him?’ ⁵ 

21:16 But their prosperity is not their own doing. ⁶ 

The counsel of the wicked is far from me! ⁷ 

[21:14]  ¹ tn The absence of the preposition before the complement adds greater vividness to the statement: “and knowing your ways – we do not desire.”

[21:14]  ² sn Contrast Ps 25:4, which affirms that walking in God’s ways means to obey God’s will – the Torah.

[21:15]  ³ tn The interrogative clause is followed by ki, similar to Exod 5:2, “Who is Yahweh, that I should obey him?”

[21:15]  ⁴ tn The verb פָּגַע (paga’) means “to encounter; to meet,” but also “to meet with request; to intercede; to interpose.” The latter meaning is a derived meaning by usage.

[21:15]  ⁵ tn The verse is not present in the LXX. It may be that it was considered too blasphemous and therefore omitted.

[21:16]  ⁶ tn Heb “is not in their hand.”

[21:16]  ⁷ sn Even though their life seems so good in contrast to his own plight, Job cannot and will not embrace their principles – “far be from me their counsel.”