Wherefore do the wicked live, become old, yea, are mighty in power?
Parallel translations
- WEB “Why do the wicked live, become old, yes, and grow mighty in power?
- BSB Why do the wicked live on, growing old and increasing in power?
- NKJV Why do the wicked live and become old, Yes, become mighty in power?
- NASB “Why do the wicked still live, Grow old, and also become very powerful?
- NLT “Why do the wicked prosper, growing old and powerful?
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
Job poses the central question of his speech: why do the wicked not only live but grow old and powerful? This directly contradicts his friends' claim that the wicked are swiftly destroyed.
Overview
Job challenges the simplistic retribution theology of his friends, who insisted that suffering proves guilt and prosperity proves righteousness. He observes that the wicked often flourish and reach great age. This anticipates the wisdom of Psalm 73 and Jeremiah 12:1, where the same question is wrestled with and ultimately answered only in light of God's final judgment.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Ps 73:3–12For I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
- Job 12:6The tabernacles of robbers prosper, and they that provoke God are secure; into whose hand God bringeth abundantly.
- Ps 37:35I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a green bay tree.
- Jer 12:1–3Righteous art thou, O LORD, when I plead with thee: yet let me talk with thee of thy judgments: Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper? wherefore are all they happy that deal very treacherously?
- Ps 17:10They are inclosed in their own fat: with their mouth they speak proudly.
- Hab 1:13Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity: wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he?
- Dan 4:17This matter is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones: to the intent that the living may know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the basest of men.
- Hab 1:15–16They take up all of them with the angle, they catch them in their net, and gather them in their drag: therefore they rejoice and are glad.
- Rev 17:2–4With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.
- Rev 13:2–7And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.
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 21:7 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.