19 God layeth up for his sons his sorrow, He giveth recompense unto him -- and he knoweth.
Thou dost not bow thyself to them, nor serve them: for I, Jehovah thy God, `am' a zealous God, charging iniquity of fathers on sons, on the third `generation', and on the fourth, of those hating Me,
In those days they do not say any more: Fathers have eaten unripe fruit, And the sons' teeth are blunted.
And ye have said, Wherefore hath not the son, Borne of the iniquity of the father? And -- the son judgment and righteousness hath done, All My statutes he hath kept, And he doeth them, he surely liveth. The soul that doth sin -- it doth die. A son doth not bear of the iniquity of the father, And a father doth not bear of the iniquity of the son, The righteousness of the righteous is on him, And the wickedness of the wicked is on him.
Render to her as also she did render to you, and double to her doubles according to her works; in the cup that she did mingle mingle to her double.
Alexander the coppersmith did me much evil; may the Lord repay to him according to his works,
but, according to thy hardness and impenitent heart, thou dost treasure up to thyself wrath, in a day of wrath and of the revelation of the righteous judgment of God,
So that ye testify to yourselves, that ye are sons of them who did murder the prophets; and ye -- ye fill up the measure of your fathers. `Serpents! brood of vipers! how may ye escape from the judgment of the gehenna? `Because of this, lo, I send to you prophets, and wise men, and scribes, and of them ye will kill and crucify, and of them ye will scourge in your synagogues, and will pursue from city to city; that on you may come all the righteous blood being poured out on the earth from the blood of Abel the righteous, unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the sanctuary and the altar:
`Treasure not up to yourselves treasures on the earth, where moth and rust disfigure, and where thieves break through and steal, but treasure up to yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth disfigure, and where thieves do not break through nor steal,
And ye have turned back and considered, Between the righteous and the wicked, Between the servant of God and him who is not His servant.
And -- lo, he hath begotten a son, And he seeth all the sins of his father, That he hath done, and he feareth, And doth not do like them,
`What -- to you, ye -- using this simile Concerning the ground of Israel, saying: Fathers do eat unripe fruit, And the sons' teeth are blunted?
Surely our sicknesses he hath borne, And our pains -- he hath carried them, And we -- we have esteemed him plagued, Smitten of God, and afflicted. And he is pierced for our transgressions, Bruised for our iniquities, The chastisement of our peace `is' on him, And by his bruise there is healing to us. All of us like sheep have wandered, Each to his own way we have turned, And Jehovah hath caused to meet on him, The punishment of us all.
Prepare ye for his sons slaughter; Because of the iniquity of their fathers, They rise not, nor have possessed the land, Nor filled the face of the world `with' cities.
His sons are fatherless, and his wife a widow. And wander continually do his sons, Yea, they have begged, And have sought out of their dry places. An exactor layeth a snare for all that he hath, And strangers spoil his labour. He hath none to extend kindness, Nor is there one showing favour to his orphans. His posterity is for cutting off, In another generation is their name blotted out. The iniquity of his fathers Is remembered unto Jehovah, And the sin of his mother is not blotted out. They are before Jehovah continually, And He cutteth off from earth their memorial. Because that he hath not remembered to do kindness, And pursueth the poor man and needy, And the smitten of heart -- to slay, And he loveth reviling, and it meeteth him, And he hath not delighted in blessing, And it is far from him. And he putteth on reviling as his robe, And it cometh in as water into his midst, And as oil into his bones. It is to him as apparel -- he covereth himself, And for a continual girdle he girdeth it on. This `is' the wage of mine accusers from Jehovah, And of those speaking evil against my soul. And Thou, O Jehovah Lord, Deal with me for Thy name's sake, Because Thy kindness `is' good, deliver me. For I `am' poor and needy, And my heart hath been pierced in my midst. As a shadow when it is stretched out I have gone, I have been driven away as a locust. My knees have been feeble from fasting, And my flesh hath failed of fatness. And I -- I have been a reproach to them, They see me, they shake their head. Help me, O Jehovah my God, Save me, according to Thy kindness. And they know that this `is' Thy hand, Thou, O Jehovah, Thou hast done it. They revile, and Thou dost bless, They have risen, and are ashamed, And Thy servant doth rejoice. Mine accusers put on blushing, and are covered, As an upper robe `is' their shame. I thank Jehovah greatly with my mouth, And in the midst of many I praise Him, For He standeth at the right hand of the needy, To save from those judging his soul.
So as to set on the dust a defence, And on a rock of the valleys a covering.
and I to-day `am' tender, and an anointed king: and these men, sons of Zeruiah, `are' too hard for me; Jehovah doth recompense to the doer of the evil according to his evil.'
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Job 21
Commentary on Job 21 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 21
This is Job's reply to Zophar's discourse, in which he complains less of his own miseries than he had done in his former discourses (finding that his friends were not moved by his complaints to pity him in the least), and comes closer to the general question that was in dispute between him and them, Whether outward prosperity, and the continuance of it, were a mark of the true church and the true members of it, so that the ruin of a man's prosperity is sufficient to prove him a hypocrite, though no other evidence appear against him: this they asserted, but Job denied.
Job 21:1-6
Job here recommends himself, both his case and his discourse, both what he suffered and what he said, to the compassionate consideration of his friends.
Job 21:7-16
All Job's three friends, in their last discourses, had been very copious in describing the miserable condition of a wicked man in this world. "It is true,' says Job, "remarkable judgments are sometimes brought upon notorious sinners, but not always; for we have many instances of the great and long prosperity of those that are openly and avowedly wicked; though they are hardened in their wickedness by their prosperity, yet they are still suffered to prosper.'
Job 21:17-26
Job had largely described the prosperity of wicked people; now, in these verses,
Job 21:27-34
In these verses,