Yet by His power, God drags away the mighty; though rising up, they have no assurance of life.
Parallel translations
- WEB Yet God preserves the mighty by his power. He rises up who has no assurance of life.
- KJV He draweth also the mighty with his power: he riseth up, and no man is sure of life.
- NKJV “But God draws the mighty away with His power; He rises up, but no man is sure of life.
- NASB “But He drags off the mighty by His power; He rises, but no one has assurance of life.
- NLT “God, in his power, drags away the rich. They may rise high, but they have no assurance of life.
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
Yet God by His power sustains the mighty, who rise though they had no certainty of life. It matters because Job grapples with why the powerful wicked endure.
Overview
Job observes that God's power even preserves the mighty, raising up those who had no assurance they would live. The verse can be read as Job's puzzled acknowledgment that God sometimes prolongs the strong, including evildoers. This tension between present prosperity and eventual judgment runs throughout the book and is resolved only in God's final reckoning.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 5
- Dan 6:4–9Thus the administrators and satraps sought a charge against Daniel concerning the kingdom, but they could find no charge or corruption, because he was trustworthy, and no negligence or corruption was found in him.
- John 19:12–16From then on, Pilate tried to release Him, but the Jews kept shouting, “If you release this man, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who declares himself a king is defying Caesar.”
- Esth 3:8–10Then Haman informed King Xerxes, “There is a certain people scattered and dispersed among the peoples of every province of your kingdom. Their laws are different from everyone else’s, and they do not obey the king’s laws. So it is not in the king’s best interest to tolerate them.
- Rev 16:13–14And I saw three unclean spirits that looked like frogs coming out of the mouths of the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet.
- Rev 17:2The kings of the earth were immoral with her, and those who dwell on the earth were intoxicated with the wine of her immorality.”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Commentaries & study tools
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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 24:22 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.