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The east wind carries him away, and he departs. It sweeps him out of his place.
Job 27:21 · World English Bible
Parallel translations
  • KJV The east wind carrieth him away, and he departeth: and as a storm hurleth him out of his place.
  • BSB The east wind carries him away, and he is gone; it sweeps him out of his place.
  • NKJV The east wind carries him away, and he is gone; It sweeps him out of his place.
  • NASB “The east wind carries him away, and he is gone; For it sweeps him away from his place.
  • NLT The east wind carries them away, and they are gone. It sweeps them away.

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 scorching east wind seizes the wicked man and sweeps him out of his place.

Overview

The east wind in the ancient Near East was a hot, destructive desert wind, a fitting image of God's judgment uprooting the wicked from home and security. Job emphasizes that no station in life is secure apart from God. This anticipates the biblical pattern that what is built on unrighteousness cannot stand the day of testing (Matthew 7:26-27).

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 10

  • Ps 11:6On the wicked he will rain blazing coals; fire, sulfur, and scorching wind shall be the portion of their cup.
  • Ps 83:15so pursue them with your tempest, and terrify them with your storm.
  • Job 21:18How often is it that they are as stubble before the wind, as chaff that the storm carries away?
  • Ps 58:9Before your pots can feel the heat of the thorns, he will sweep away the green and the burning alike.
  • Job 7:10He shall return no more to his house, neither shall his place know him any more.
  • Matt 7:27The rain came down, the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat on that house; and it fell — and great was its fall.”
  • Jer 18:17I will scatter them as with an east wind before the enemy. I will show them the back, and not the face, in the day of their calamity.
  • Hos 13:15Though he is fruitful among his brothers, an east wind will come, the breath of Yahweh coming up from the wilderness; and his spring will become dry, and his fountain will be dried up. He will plunder the storehouse of treasure.
  • Nah 1:3–8Yahweh is slow to anger, and great in power, and will by no means leave the guilty unpunished. Yahweh has his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet.
  • Exod 9:23–25Moses stretched out his rod toward the heavens, and Yahweh sent thunder, hail, and lightning flashed down to the earth. Yahweh rained hail on the land of Egypt.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (5)

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 27:21YouTube · 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 27:21 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.