to work (in any sense) · verb, qal imperfect, 1st person common plural + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
profit
נּ֝וֹעִ֗ילno.'Il
H3276
properly · verb, hiphil imperfect, 1st person common plural
pray
נִפְגַּעnif.ga'-
H6293
to impinge · verb, qal imperfect, 1st person common plural
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Exodus 5:2 And Pharaoh said, Who is the LORD, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the LORD, neither will I let Israel go.
Job 34:9 For he hath said, It profiteth a man nothing that he should delight himself with God.
Malachi 1:13-14 Ye said also, Behold, what a weariness is it! and ye have snuffed at it, saith the LORD of hosts; and ye brought that which was torn, and th…
Psalms 12:4 Who have said, With our tongue will we prevail; our lips are our own: who is lord over us?
Proverbs 30:9 Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the LORD? or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain.
Isaiah 30:11 Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.
Job 35:3 For thou saidst, What advantage will it be unto thee? and, What profit shall I have, if I be cleansed from my sin?
Isaiah 45:19 I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth: I said not unto the seed of Jacob, Seek ye me in vain: I the LORD speak righteous…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Job 21:7-16
All Job's three friends, in their last discourses, had been very copious in describing the miserable condition of a wicked man in this world. "It is true," says Job, "remarkable judgments are sometimes brought upon notorious sinners, but not always; for we have many instances of the great and long prosperity of those that are openly and avowedly wicked; though they are hardened in their wickedness by their prosperity, yet they are still suffered to prosper."
I. He here describes their prosperity in the height, and breadth, and length of it. "If this be true, as you say, pray tell me wherefore do the wicked live?" Job 21:7.
1. The matter of fact is taken for granted, for we see instances of i…
(Compare Jer 2:20; Pro 30:9, Margin, Exo 5:2).
what profit-- (Job 35:3; Mal 3:14; Psa 73:13). Sinners ask, not what is right, but what is for the profit of self. They forget, "If religion cost self something, the want of it will cost self infinitely more."
John Gill on Job 21:15
What is the Almighty, that we should serve him?.... "Who is he" (t)? as some render it; or what is there in him, in his nature, in his excellencies and perfections, that should oblige us to serve him? One would think the attribute of "Almighty", they own and acknowledge, is sufficient to engage to it, since he is the lawgiver that is able to save and to destroy, even to destroy with an everlasting destruction, both body and soul in hell, who obey him not; but fulness of riches, power, and authority, swell the mind with pride, and put men on asking such questions, and running such lengths as these; see Exodus 5:2. The question is full of atheism, and suggests there was nothing in God excellen…
12 They raise their voice with the playing of timbrel aud harp,
And rejoice at the sound of the pipe
13 They enjoy their days in prosperity,
And in a moment they go down to Sehol.
14 And yet they said to God: "Depart from us!
We desire not the knowledge of Thy ways.
15 What is the Almighty, that we should serve Him? -
And what doth it profit us that we should importune Him?" -
16 Lo! they have not their prosperity by their own hand,
The thought of the wicked be far from me!
קולם is to be supplied to ישׂאוּ in Isa 42:11, and instead of בּתף with בּ of the musical accompaniment (as Psa 4:1, Psa 49:5), it is to be read כּתף after the Masora with Kimchi, Ramban, Ralbag, and Farisol,
(Note: The…
The Church Fathers
Ver. 15. Who is the Almighty, that we should serve Him? 52. For the mind of man being miserably discharged without, is so dissipated in things corporeal, as neither to return to itself within, nor to be able to think of Him, Who is invisible. Thus carnal men setting at nought spiritual commands, because they do not see God with bodily sight, one time or another come to this pass, that they even imagine Him not to be. Hence it is written, The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. Whence also it is said now, Who is the Almighty, that we should serve Him? [Ps. 14, 1] For it very often happens that men make it more their aim to serve their fellow-creatures, whom they see with bodily sight, than to serve God, Whom they do not see. For in all that they do, they stretch towards the reach of their eyes, and because they cannot stretch the eyes of the body to God, they either scorn to pay Him homage, or if they begin they grow wearied. For, as has been said, they do not believe Him to be, Whom they do not behold with bodily sight. These, did they but seek God the Author of all things in a spirit of humility, would in themselves experience that a thing which is not seen is better than an object which is seen. For they themselves subsist in being by virtue of an invisible soul and a visible body; but if that which is not seen be withdrawn from them, at once that perishes which is seen. And the eyes of the body indeed are open, but they cannot see or perceive any thing. For the sense of sight is gone, because the indweller has quitted, and the house of the flesh remains empty, since that invisible spirit has departed which was wont to look through its windows. Therefore that invisible things are better than visible ones, all carnal persons ought severally to conclude from themselves, and by this ladder of reflection (so to speak) to mount towards God, seeing that He is even herein that He continues invisible, and continues supreme in proportion as He can never be comprehended. But there are some, who do not doubt either that God is, or that He is incomprehensible, who notwithstanding seek from Him not Himself, but His external gifts. And when they see that these are wanting to those that obey Him, they scorn to obey Him themselves. In relation to whose words it is further added; And what profit should we have, if we pray unto Him? 53. When, in praying, God is…
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Amusements And Pleasures, Worldly · Lead to: Rejection of God — Lead to: Rejection of God
Amusements And Worldly Pleasures · Lead to rejection of God — Lead to rejection of God
Character Of The Wicked · Prayerless — Prayerless
Infidelity · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Prayer · .Unbelief in — .Unbelief in
Prayerlessness · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Rich, The · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Sin · The wicked: Encouraged in, by prosperity — The wicked: Encouraged in, by prosperity
Skepticism · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Vanity · The wicked: Count God’s service as — The wicked: Count God’s service as
Worldliness · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
In spite of assertions by Eliphaz (5:4), Bildad (18:19), and Zophar (20:10), Job noted that the wicked enjoy children and grandchildren, which should be the reward of the righteous (Prov 17:6) but was apparently not going to be his own reward (Job 1:18-19; but see 42:13-16).
Rashi on Job 21:15
and what will it avail us What benefit do we have if we pray to Him? We do not need Him for the drops of rain, because “a cloud would ascend from the earth” (Gen. 2:6).
