good (as a noun) · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
hand
בְיָדָ֣םve.ya.Dam
H3027
a hand (the open one (indicating power · preposition + noun, common both genders singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
counsel
עֲצַ֥ת'a.Tzat
H6098
advice · noun, common feminine singular construct
wicked
רְ֝שָׁעִ֗יםre.sha.'Im
H7563
morally wrong · noun, common masculine plural absolute
far
רָ֣חֲקָהRa.cha.kah
H7368
to widen (in any direction) · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person feminine singular
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
Job 22:18 Yet he filled their houses with good things: but the counsel of the wicked is far from me.
Psalms 1:1 Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornf…
Genesis 49:6 O my soul, come not thou into their secret; unto their assembly, mine honour, be not thou united: for in their anger they slew a man, and in…
Psalms 49:6-7 They that trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches;
Psalms 52:5-7 God shall likewise destroy thee for ever, he shall take thee away, and pluck thee out of thy dwelling place, and root thee out of the land o…
Proverbs 1:10 My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.
Job 1:21 And said, Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be th…
Job 12:9-10 Who knoweth not in all these that the hand of the LORD hath wrought this?
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…
not in their hand--but in the hand of God. This is Job's difficulty, that God who has sinners prosperity (good) in His hand should allow them to have it.
is--rather, "may the counsel of the wicked be far from me!" [UMBREIT]. This naturally follows the sentiment of the first clause: Let me not hereby be thought to regard with aught but horror the ways of the wicked, however prosperous.
John Gill on Job 21:16
Lo, their good is not in their hand,.... Though it is in their possession for the present, it is not in the power of their hands to keep, nor to carry it with them when they die; God, that gave it, can take it away when he pleases; and therefore it might be profitable to them to serve him and pray unto him: or "their good is not by their hand"; they do not obtain their happiness by their works, as in the Tigurine version; and to the same sense Mr. Broughton,
"lo, their wealth cometh not by their own power;''
it is not got by their own industry, diligence, care, and labour; by their own wisdom, knowledge, understanding, and cunning; for riches are not always to men of understanding, but com…
"And they possessed great possessions. He did not take away their possessions when they spoke thus.
Ver. 16. But because their good things are not in their hand, may their counsel be far from me. 54. He 'holds his good things in his hand,' who in despising temporal things, forces them under the dominion of the mind. For whoever loves them over much, subjects himself more to them, than them to himself. For many of the righteous were rich in this world; sustained by their substance, and by their honour, they seemed to possess many things; yet forasmuch as their mind was not possessed by the excessive enjoyment of these things, which were theirs, 'their good things were in their hand,' because they were held subordinate to the authority of the soul. But on the other hand the wicked so discharge themselves with all their hearts in aims at outward things, that they do not themselves so much hold the things possessed, but are holden with minds in bondage by the things they possess. Therefore because 'their good things are not in their hand,' it is rightly added, let their counsel be far from me. For what is 'the counsel of the wicked,' saving to seek earthly and neglect eternal glory, to aim at temporal well-being at the cost of interior detriment, and to change away transitory sorrows for eternal woes? Let the holy man, then, regarding these aims of the wicked, turn from them and say, Let their counsel be far from me. Because he sees it to be good beyond comparison, as it is, he had rather for a brief space groan here beneath the rod, than undergo the woes of eternal vengeance. But not even in this life do they, that are bent to make their way prosperous therein, enjoy an uninterrupted course of prosperity. But many times their joys are broken off by groans arising.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
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…
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 21:16
Behold, is not their prosperity in their hand This is a question: Is not all their prosperity in their hand?
The counsel of the wicked has distanced itself from me Job was boasting that he saw them [the wicked] and was not counted among them.
