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Job 21 Bible study: Why do the wicked live?

When the wicked tell God, "Depart from us" (21:14), depart is the Hebrew verb of the book's first verse, where Job "turned away from evil" (1:1). And the "nonsense" Job says his friends comfort him with (21:34) is hevel, the word of Ecclesiastes' "Vanity of vanities".

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“Shall any teach God knowledge, since he judges those who are high?”
Job 21:22 · World English Bible

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“Later in the book, Job himself says, "I lay my hand on my mouth."”

Is that in Job 21, or not? Make your call.

What's really going on

"Let this be your consolation"

In the text

Every word of this chapter is Job's. "Then Job answered" (21:1), after Zophar's speech (20:1), and the next heading is "Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered" (22:1). Job opens with a request: "Listen diligently to my speech. Let this be your consolation" (21:2) (tap consolation). In Hebrew that word comes in only one other verse of Job, and it is Eliphaz's: "Are the consolations of God too small for you, even the word that is gentle toward you?" (15:11). Job goes on, "Allow me, and I also will speak. After I have spoken, mock on" (21:3), and "Look at me, and be astonished. Lay your hand on your mouth" (21:5). Of himself he says, "When I remember, I am troubled. Horror takes hold of my flesh" (21:6). He ends the speech the way he began it, with comfort: "So how can you comfort me with nonsense, because in your answers there remains only falsehood?" (21:34) (tap comfort, nonsense, falsehood). In Hebrew consolation (21:2) and comfort (21:34) are from one root; comfort is the verb of the friends' coming "to sympathize with him and to comfort him" (2:11), and of Job's "You are all miserable comforters!" (16:2).

Honest questions

Questions people ask about Job 21

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The rest of Job 21 is waiting in Favor

  • "Why do the wicked live?"
  • "How often?"
  • The same question, elsewhere in Scripture
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  • 9 questions as you read
  • 13 more Hebrew words
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The Hebrew word behind it

נָחַםnachamsay na-KHAM

Brown-Driver-Briggs gives, for the form used here, "comfort, console". Strong's: "to pity, console". "So how can you comfort me with nonsense" (21:34). It is the verb of the friends' coming "to sympathize with him and to comfort him" (2:11), and of Job's "You are all miserable comforters!" (16:2). It comes seven times in the Hebrew of Job, the last in 42:11, where those who came to him "comforted him, and consoled him": there it is consoled. Job's consolation in 21:2 is a noun Strong's gives as "from 5162", this verb (tap consolation).

For your group

Job 21 Bible study questions

  1. 1"Why do the wicked live, become old, yes, and grow mighty in power?" (21:7). When has that question been yours, and what did you do with it?
  2. 2The friends came "to comfort him" (2:11), and Job asks, "how can you comfort me with nonsense" (21:34). What makes comfort real, and not empty, when someone is suffering?
  3. 3"Listen diligently to my speech. Let this be your consolation" (21:2). Who has comforted you mostly by listening, and what did it mean to you?

Leading a group? In Favor, everyone reads Job 21 during the week and answers these questions privately. Answers stay sealed until you meet, then appear together, and you can print the week's sheet.

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Questions

What is Favor?

Favor is a Bible study app that explains every chapter as you read: the Hebrew and Greek behind the words, the details most readers miss, and how each part of the Bible leads to Jesus. Read on your own, or start a Bible study with friends, family or your church.

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Hebrew and Greek words are checked against the original-language texts and public-domain lexicons. What we believe · Favor home