Job 21:23-34

Death Levels Everything

21:23 “One man dies in his full vigor, ¹ 

completely secure and prosperous,

21:24 his body ²  well nourished, ³ 

and the marrow of his bones moist. ⁴ 

21:25 And another man ⁵  dies in bitterness of soul, ⁶ 

never having tasted ⁷  anything good.

21:26 Together they lie down in the dust,

and worms cover over them both.

Futile Words, Deceptive Answers

21:27 “Yes, I know what you are thinking, ⁸ 

the schemes ⁹  by which you would wrong me. ¹⁰ 

21:28 For you say,

‘Where now is the nobleman’s house, ¹¹ 

and where are the tents in which the wicked lived?’ ¹² 

21:29 Have you never questioned those who travel the roads?

Do you not recognize their accounts ¹³  –

21:30 that the evil man is spared

from the day of his misfortune,

that he is delivered ¹⁴ 

from the day of God’s wrath?

21:31 No one denounces his conduct to his face;

no one repays him for what ¹⁵  he has done. ¹⁶ 

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

and watch is kept ¹⁷  over the funeral mound, ¹⁸ 

21:33 The clods of the torrent valley ¹⁹  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!” ²⁰ 

[21:23]  ¹ tn The line has “in the bone of his perfection.” The word עֶצֶם (’etsem), which means “bone,” is used pronominally to express “the same, very”; here it is “in the very fullness of his strength” (see GKC 449 §139.g). The abstract תֹּם (tom) is used here in the sense of physical perfection and strengths.

[21:24]  ² tn The verb עָטַן (’atan) has the precise meaning of “press olives.” But because here it says “full of milk,” the derived meaning for the noun has been made to mean “breasts” or “pails” (although in later Hebrew this word occurs – but with olives, not with milk). Dhorme takes it to refer to “his sides,” and repoints the word for “milk” (חָלָב, khalav) to get “fat” (חֶלֶב, khelev) – “his sides are full of fat,” a rendering followed by NASB. However, this weakens the parallelism.

[21:24]  ³ tn This interpretation, adopted by several commentaries and modern translations (cf. NAB, NIV), is a general rendering to capture the sense of the line.

[21:24]  ⁴ tn The verb שָׁקָה (shaqah) means “to water” and here “to be watered thoroughly.” The picture in the line is that of health and vigor.

[21:25]  ⁵ tn The expression “this (v. 23)…and this” (v. 25) means “one…the other.”

[21:25]  ⁶ tn The text literally has “and this [man] dies in soul of bitterness.” Some simply reverse it and translate “in the bitterness of soul.” The genitive “bitterness” may be an attribute adjective, “with a bitter soul.”

[21:25]  ⁷ tn Heb “eaten what is good.” It means he died without having enjoyed the good life.

[21:27]  ⁸ tn The word is “your thoughts.” The word for “thoughts” (from חָצַב [khatsav, “to think; to reckon; to plan”]) has more to do with their intent than their general thoughts. He knows that when they talked about the fate of the wicked they really were talking about him.

[21:27]  ⁹ tn For the meaning of this word, and its root זָמַם (zamam), see Job 17:11. It usually means the “plans” or “schemes” that are concocted against someone.

[21:27]  ¹⁰ tn E. Dhorme (Job, 321) distinguishes the verb חָמַס (khamas) from the noun for “violence.” He proposes a meaning of “think, imagine”: “and the ideas you imagined about me.”

[21:28]  ¹¹ sn The question implies the answer will be “vanished” or “gone.”

[21:28]  ¹² tn Heb “And where is the tent, the dwellings of the wicked.” The word “dwellings of the wicked” is in apposition to “tent.” A relative pronoun must be supplied in the translation.

[21:29]  ¹³ tc The LXX reads, “Ask those who go by the way, and do not disown their signs.”

[21:30]  ¹⁴ tn The verb means “to be led forth.” To be “led forth in the day of trouble” means to be delivered.

[21:31]  ¹⁵ tn The expression “and he has done” is taken here to mean “what he has done.”

[21:31]  ¹⁶ 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.

[21:32]  ¹⁷ tn The verb says “he will watch.” The subject is unspecified, so the translation is passive.

[21:32]  ¹⁸ tn The Hebrew word refers to the tumulus, the burial mound that is erected on the spot where the person is buried.

[21:33]  ¹⁹ 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.

[21:34]  ²⁰ 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.