They sing to the tambourine and harp, And rejoice to 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.
- BSB singing to the tambourine and lyre and making merry at 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 4:21His brother’s name was Jubal, who was the father of all who handle the harp and pipe.
- Amos 6:4–6Who lie on beds of ivory, and stretch themselves on their couches, and eat the lambs out of the flock, and the calves out of the middle of the stall;
- Isa 5:12The harp, lyre, tambourine, and flute, with wine, are at their feasts; but they don’t respect the work of Yahweh, neither have they considered the operation of his hands.
- Gen 31:27Why did you flee secretly, and deceive me, and didn’t tell me, that I might have sent you away with mirth and with songs, with tambourine and with harp;
- Isa 22:13and behold, joy and gladness, killing cattle and killing sheep, eating meat and drinking wine: “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we will 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.