They spend their days in prosperity and go down to Sheol in peace.
Parallel translations
- WEB They spend their days in prosperity. In an instant they go down to Sheol.
- KJV They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment go down to the grave.
- NKJV They spend their days in wealth, And in a moment go down to the grave.
- NASB “They spend their days in prosperity, And suddenly they go down to Sheol.
- NLT They spend their days in prosperity, then go down to the grave in peace.
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 enjoy prosperity all their days and then die quickly and peacefully, without prolonged suffering. They seem to escape judgment even in death.
Overview
Job observes that many wicked people live well and die a swift, painless death rather than lingering in torment. This is the climax of his observation about their earthly ease. The phrase 'go down to Sheol' reminds us, however, that death is not the end of the story; the New Testament reveals the final judgment that resolves what Job could only puzzle over (Heb 9:27).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 5
- Job 36:11If they obey and serve Him, then they end their days in prosperity and their years in happiness.
- Matt 24:38–39For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark.
- Luke 17:28–29It was the same in the days of Lot: People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building.
- Luke 12:19–20Then I will say to myself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take it easy. Eat, drink, and be merry!”’
- Ps 73:4They have no struggle in their death; their bodies are well-fed.
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 21:13 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.