Job 21
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Job 21 is the 21st
chapter Chapter or Chapters may refer to: Books * Chapter (books), a main division of a piece of writing or document * Chapter book, a story book intended for intermediate readers, generally age 7–10 * Chapters (bookstore), Canadian big box bookstore ...
of the
Book of Job The Book of Job (), or simply Job, is a book found in the Ketuvim ("Writings") section of the Hebrew Bible and the first of the Poetic Books in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. The language of the Book of Job, combining post-Babylonia ...
in the
Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
. '' Old Testament The Old Testament (OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible, or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew and occasionally Aramaic writings by the Isr ...
of the
Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...
Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...
.Holman Illustrated Bible Handbook. Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee. 2012. The book is anonymous; most scholars believe it was written around the 6th century BCE. This chapter records the speech of
Job Work, labor (labour in Commonwealth English), occupation or job is the intentional activity people perform to support the needs and desires of themselves, other people, or organizations. In the context of economics, work can be seen as the huma ...
, which belongs to the Dialogue section of the book, comprising Job 3:131:40.


Text

The original text is written in
Biblical Hebrew Biblical Hebrew ( or ), also called Classical Hebrew, is an archaic form of the Hebrew language, a language in the Canaanite languages, Canaanitic branch of the Semitic languages spoken by the Israelites in the area known as the Land of Isra ...
, and the
chapter Chapter or Chapters may refer to: Books * Chapter (books), a main division of a piece of writing or document * Chapter book, a story book intended for intermediate readers, generally age 7–10 * Chapters (bookstore), Canadian big box bookstore ...
is divided into 34 verses.


Textual witnesses

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter in
Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...
are of the
Masoretic Text The Masoretic Text (MT or 𝕸; ) is the authoritative Hebrew and Aramaic text of the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible (''Tanakh'') in Rabbinic Judaism. The Masoretic Text defines the Jewish canon and its precise letter-text, with its vocaliz ...
, which includes the
Aleppo Codex The Aleppo Codex () is a medieval bound manuscript of the Hebrew Bible. The codex was written in the city of Tiberias in the tenth century CE (circa 920) under the rule of the Abbasid Caliphate, and was endorsed for its accuracy by Maimonides. ...
(10th century) and Codex Leningradensis (1008). There is also a translation into
Koine Greek Koine Greek (, ), also variously known as Hellenistic Greek, common Attic, the Alexandrian dialect, Biblical Greek, Septuagint Greek or New Testament Greek, was the koiné language, common supra-regional form of Greek language, Greek spoken and ...
known as the
Septuagint The Septuagint ( ), sometimes referred to as the Greek Old Testament or The Translation of the Seventy (), and abbreviated as LXX, is the earliest extant Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible from the original Biblical Hebrew. The full Greek ...
, which was made in the final few centuries BCE; some extant ancient manuscripts of this version include
Codex Vaticanus The Codex Vaticanus ( The Vatican, Bibl. Vat., Vat. gr. 1209), is a manuscript of the Greek Bible, containing the majority of the Old Testament and the majority of the New Testament. It is designated by siglum B or 03 in the Gregory-Aland numb ...
(B; \mathfrakB; 4th century),
Codex Sinaiticus The Codex Sinaiticus (; Shelfmark: London, British Library, Add MS 43725), also called the Sinai Bible, is a fourth-century Christian manuscript of a Greek Bible, containing the majority of the Greek Old Testament, including the deuterocanonica ...
(S; BHK: \mathfrakS; 4th century), and
Codex Alexandrinus The Codex Alexandrinus (London, British Library, Royal MS 1. D. V-VIII) is a manuscript of the Greek Bible,The Greek Bible in this context refers to the Bible used by Greek-speaking Christians who lived in Egypt and elsewhere during the early ...
(A; \mathfrakA; 5th century).


Analysis

The structure of the book is as follows: *The Prologue (chapters 1–2) *The Dialogue (chapters 3–31) *The Verdicts (32:1–42:6) *The Epilogue (42:7–17) Within the structure, chapter 21 is grouped into the Dialogue section with the following outline: *Job's Self-Curse and Self-Lament (3:1–26) *Round One (4:1–14:22) *Round Two (15:1–21:34) **Eliphaz (15:1–35) **Job (16:1–17:16) **Bildad (18:1–21) **Job (19:1–29) **Zophar (20:1–29) **Job (21:1–34) ***Change Your Attitude to Me (21:1–6) ***The Prospering of the Wicked (21:7–16) ***Why Are the Wicked Not Punished? (21:17–26) ***The Failure of the Friends (21:27–34) *Round Three (22:1–27:23) *Interlude – A Poem on Wisdom (28:1–28) *Job's Summing Up (29:1–31:40) The Dialogue section is composed and formatted as poetry with distinctive syntax and grammar. Chapter 21 contains Job's last speech in the second cycle of debates with his friends, notably the only speech in which "Job confines his remarks to his friends". The chapter can be divided into the following parts: *Job's plea to the friends to change their attitude (verses 1–6) *Job questions why the wicked prosper (verses 7–16) *Job asks how often the wicked are punished (verses 17–26) *Job remarks on the failure of the friends' rebuttals (verses 27–34)


Job's plea to the friends to change their attitude (21:1–6)

Job opens his speech with a plea for his friends to actually listen (instead of "mock") his words because if they were doing that, it would bring real comfort to him (verses 2–3). Job's issue is that the friends are interfering with his complaint with God with their inaccurate presumption or silence toward his defense (verses 4–5). The task of laying a complaint before an almighty God is dangerous. Hence, Job approaches this with trembling (verse 6).


Verse 4

: ob said:''"As for me, is my complaint against man?'' ::''And if it were, why should I not be impatient?"'' *"Why should I not be impatient": literally in Hebrew: "Why should my spirit/breath not be short" (cf. Numbers 21:4; Judges 16:16). Job knows that his complaint is with God, not with any human beings, therefore he hopes that his friends would be his allies, but they instead add to Job's trauma by accusing him.


Job explores why the wicked are not always punished as the friends insisted (21:7–26)

This section has two main parts in which Job explores the apparent anomalies of what the friends stated about the fate of the wicked: # Why the wicked can prosper despite their attitude toward God (verses 7–16) # How often the wicked are punished (verses 17–26) Job is suspicious of any attempt to trim the facts to fit into a 'tidy theological system', and he confronts the friends to match their neat imaginary world with the reality. Verse 7 contains the statement of the general problem for the first topic: "why the wicked not only exist but also live a long life ("advance to old age") and grow mighty in power and wealth". The second topic is framed by the 'reality of death' (verses 17–18 and verses 25–26) as Job asks "how often do the wicked die prematurely" in a series of rhetorical questions with the expected answer: "hardly ever". The implication of both topics is the arbitrariness (lack of connection) between 'a person's righteousness and the fullness of that person's life', thus the divine retribution is not actually reflected in the world.


Verse 16

: ob said:''"Lo, their good is not in their hand: the counsel of the wicked is far from me."'' *"Is not in their hand": implying that one's well-being is from God, although the wicked may enjoy prosperity as if it is their right. *"The counsel of the wicked is far from me" or "far be from me their counsel'; an echo of
Psalm 1 Psalm 1 is the first psalm of the Book of Psalms, beginning in the English King James Version: "Blessed is the man", and forming "an appropriate prologue" to the whole collection according to Alexander Kirkpatrick.Kirkpatrick, A. F. (1906)Cambr ...
:1 to prove that Job is not in the company of the wicked.


Job remarks on the failure of the friends' rebuttals (21:27–34)

After challenging the friends' thinking process, Job criticizes them for being blind and deaf to reality because of their rigid theological systems.(verses 29–33). Job closes the second round of debate by pointing out the insubstantiality of his friends' comfort until now ('mere hot air') and the faithlessness or treachery of what is left standing in their speeches (verse 34).


Verse 29

: ob said:''"Have you not asked them who travel the road?'' ::''And do you not know their signs?"'' *"Know their signs" refers to the custom of ancient merchants and travelers to write their names and thoughts (what they have seen and heard) somewhere at the main cross-roads; for example, the main roads of Sinai are 'dotted with these scribblings made by such passers of a day.' The Greek Septuagint version renders the verse as: “Ask those who go by the way, and do not disown their signs.”Note on Job 21:29 in NET Bible


See also

*Related
Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...
parts: Job 20,
Job 42 Job 42 is the 42nd (and the final) chapter of the Book of Job in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of the Christian Bible.Holman Illustrated Bible Handbook. Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee. 2012. The book is anonymous; most scho ...
,
Psalm 1 Psalm 1 is the first psalm of the Book of Psalms, beginning in the English King James Version: "Blessed is the man", and forming "an appropriate prologue" to the whole collection according to Alexander Kirkpatrick.Kirkpatrick, A. F. (1906)Cambr ...


References


Sources

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External links

*
Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...
translations: *
Iyov - Job - Chapter 21 (Judaica Press)
translation ith Rashi's commentary">Rashi.html" ;"title="ith Rashi">ith Rashi's commentaryat Chabad.org *
Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...
translations: *
''Online Bible'' at GospelHall.org
(ESV, KJV, Darby, American Standard Version, Bible in Basic English)
Book of Job Chapter 21
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