singing to the tambourine and lyre and making merry at the sound of the flute.
Parallel translations
- WEB They sing to the tambourine and harp, and rejoice at the sound of the pipe.
- KJV They take the timbrel and harp, and rejoice at the sound of the organ.
- NKJV They sing to the tambourine and harp, And rejoice to the sound of the flute.
- NASB “They sing with the tambourine and harp, And rejoice at the sound of the flute.
- NLT They sing with tambourine and harp. They celebrate to the sound of the flute.
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
The wicked celebrate with music and song, enjoying festive pleasure. Their lives are marked by merriment, not the misery his friends predicted.
Overview
Job describes the wicked making music with tambourine, harp, and pipe, a portrait of carefree enjoyment. This further undercuts the retribution doctrine. Yet Scripture elsewhere warns that such heedless feasting without thought of God is hollow (Amos 6:5-7); the joy is real but fleeting, as the next verse shows.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 5
- Gen 4:21And his brother’s name was Jubal; he was the father of all who play the harp and flute.
- Amos 6:4–6You lie on beds inlaid with ivory, and lounge upon your couches. You dine on lambs from the flock and calves from the stall.
- Isa 5:12At their feasts are the lyre and harp, tambourines and flutes and wine. They disregard the actions of the LORD and fail to see the work of His hands.
- Gen 31:27Why did you run away secretly and deceive me, without even telling me? I would have sent you away with joy and singing, with tambourines and harps.
- Isa 22:13But look, there is joy and gladness, butchering of cattle and slaughtering of sheep, eating of meat and drinking of wine: “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!”
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 21:12 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.