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Their houses are safe from fear, neither is the rod of God upon them.
Job 21:9 · King James Version
Parallel translations
  • WEB Their houses are safe from fear, neither is the rod of God upon them.
  • BSB Their homes are safe from fear; no rod of punishment from God is upon them.
  • NKJV Their houses are safe from fear, Neither is the rod of God upon them.
  • NASB Their houses are safe from fear, And the rod of God is not on them.
  • NLT Their homes are safe from every fear, and God does not punish them.

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 homes of the wicked are safe and untroubled, and God's chastening 'rod' does not fall on them. Their lives seem free from the judgments the friends predicted.

Overview

Job presses the contrast: the punishment his friends say the wicked must suffer often does not appear. Their households dwell in peace and security. Job is not denying God's justice but insisting it does not operate on the immediate, mechanical schedule his friends assume; final reckoning belongs to God's timing.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 6

  • Ps 73:5They are not in trouble as other men; neither are they plagued like other men.
  • Job 9:34Let him take his rod away from me, and let not his fear terrify me:
  • Job 15:21A dreadful sound is in his ears: in prosperity the destroyer shall come upon him.
  • Ps 73:19How are they brought into desolation, as in a moment! they are utterly consumed with terrors.
  • Job 18:11Terrors shall make him afraid on every side, and shall drive him to his feet.
  • Isa 57:19–21I create the fruit of the lips; Peace, peace to him that is far off, and to him that is near, saith the LORD; and I will heal him.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (2)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Job videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Job 21:9YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on JobMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

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 21:9 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.