Their bull gendereth, and faileth not; their cow calveth, and casteth not her calf.
Parallel translations
- WEB Their bulls breed without fail. Their cows calve, and don’t miscarry.
- BSB Their bulls breed without fail; their cows bear calves and do not miscarry.
- NKJV Their bull breeds without failure; Their cow calves without miscarriage.
- NASB “His ox mates without fail; His cow calves and does not miscarry.
- NLT Their bulls never fail to breed. Their cows bear calves and never miscarry.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Even the livestock of the wicked prosper, breeding reliably without loss. Job uses agricultural fruitfulness as a sign of their unbroken good fortune.
Overview
In a pastoral economy, fertile herds meant wealth and stability. Job observes that the wicked enjoy this abundance, contradicting the expectation that God curses their increase. The verse underscores Job's empirical case: prosperity and righteousness do not always align in this life, a truth that drives the believer to trust God's eternal justice.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Exod 23:26There shall nothing cast their young, nor be barren, in thy land: the number of thy days I will fulfil.
- Deut 28:11And the LORD shall make thee plenteous in goods, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy ground, in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers to give thee.
- Deut 7:13–14And he will love thee, and bless thee, and multiply thee: he will also bless the fruit of thy womb, and the fruit of thy land, thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep, in the land which he sware unto thy fathers to give thee.
- Luke 16:19There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day:
- Eccl 9:1–2For all this I considered in my heart even to declare all this, that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God: no man knoweth either love or hatred by all that is before them.
- Luke 12:16–21And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully:
- Ps 144:13–14That our garners may be full, affording all manner of store: that our sheep may bring forth thousands and ten thousands in our streets:
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Job's cry for a mediator who can lay his hand on both God and man, and his confidence that 'my Redeemer lives' and will stand on the earth, reaches forward to Jesus the living Redeemer.
How Job 21:10 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.