a lamp (i.e. the burner) or light (literally or figurat… · noun, common masculine singular construct
wicked
רְשָׁ֘עִ֤יםre.Sha.'Im
H7563
morally wrong · noun, common masculine plural absolute
out
יִדְעָ֗ךְyid.'Akh
H1846
to be extinguished · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
cometh
וְיָבֹ֣אve.ya.Vo'
H935
to go or come (in a wide variety of applications) · conjunction + verb, qal, 3rd person masculine singular
destruction
אֵידָ֑ם'ei.Dam
H343
oppression · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
distributeth
יְחַלֵּ֥קye.cha.Lek
H2505
to be smooth (figuratively) · verb, piel imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
sorrows
חֲ֝בָלִ֗יםcha.va.Lim
H2256
a rope (as twisted) · noun, common masculine plural absolute
anger
בְּאַפּֽוֹbe.'a.Po
H639
properly · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine 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 18:5-6 Yea, the light of the wicked shall be put out, and the spark of his fire shall not shine.
Proverbs 13:9 The light of the righteous rejoiceth: but the lamp of the wicked shall be put out.
Proverbs 20:20 Whoso curseth his father or his mother, his lamp shall be put out in obscure darkness.
Job 18:18 He shall be driven from light into darkness, and chased out of the world.
Psalms 32:10 Many sorrows shall be to the wicked: but he that trusteth in the LORD, mercy shall compass him about.
Psalms 90:7-9 For we are consumed by thine anger, and by thy wrath are we troubled.
Proverbs 24:20 For there shall be no reward to the evil man; the candle of the wicked shall be put out.
Matthew 25:8 And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Job 21:17-26
Job had largely described the prosperity of wicked people; now, in these verses,
I. He opposes this to what his friends had maintained concerning their certain ruin in this life. "Tell me how often do you see the candle of the wicked put out? Do you not as often see it burnt down to the socket, until it goes out of itself? Job 21:17. How often do you see their destruction come upon them, or God distributing sorrows in his anger among them? Do you not as often see their mirth and prosperity continuing to the last?" Perhaps there are as many instances of notorious sinners ending their days in pomp as ending them in misery, which observation is sufficient to invalidate their arguments against J…
Job in this whole passage down to Job 21:21 quotes the assertion of the friends, as to the short continuance of the sinner's prosperity, not his own sentiments. In Job 21:22 he proceeds to refute them. "How oft is the candle" (lamp), &c., quoting Bildad's sentiment (Job 18:5-6), in order to question its truth (compare Mat 25:8).
how oft--"God distributeth," &c. (alluding to Job 20:23, Job 20:29).
sorrows--UMBREIT translates "snares," literally, "cords," which lightning in its twining motion resembles (Psa 11:6).
John Gill on Job 21:17
How oft is the candle of the wicked put out?.... Job here returns, as Jarchi observes, to his former account of the constant and continued prosperity of wicked men; and puts questions tending to prove the same. Bildad had said, that the light and candle of the wicked would be put out, Job 18:5. Job, referring to this, asks how often this is the case; meaning, by the candle of the wicked, not his soul or spirit, which cannot be put out, or become extinct, as to be no more; nor the light of nature in his soul, though that may be put out in a great measure, and he be given up to judicial blindness and hardness of heart; but either his natural life, which, like a candle, burns for a while, and t…
"And even the torch of the wicked shall go out. Their celebrity acquired in the world, although it is not in the same sense that they understood it.
Ver. 17. How often shall their candle be put out? and how oft shall a flood come over them, and shall He divide sorrows in His fury? 55. It often happens that the wicked man reckons the life of his children as a 'candle,' but when the son, that is loved overmuch, is taken away, what seemed the 'light' of the wicked is 'put out.' Often the wicked man reckons the credit of present honour his 'candle,' but, whilst, his dignity gone, he is cast down from his height, his candle is extinguished, which shone for him according to his desire. Often the wicked man thinks that the resources of earthly substance are his, like a great candle for light, but when upon ruin falling on him, he loses the riches which he loved more than himself, what else with this man but that he has lost the candle, in the light of which he was rejoicing? And so he that has no wish to rest his joy on the things of Eternity, neither here, where he is minded to establish himself, can he rejoice uninterruptedly. For as often as the 'candle of the wicked is put out,' at once there 'cometh a flood upon them, and God divideth sorrows in His fury.' 'A flood cometh' upon the wicked when they undergo the waves of sorrow from adversity of some kind. For Almighty God, when He sees Himself contemned, and that delight is taken in earthly concupiscence, smites that with woes which He sees is preferred before Himself in the thoughts of the wicked man. Now it is well said, And divideth sorrows in His fury. For He that reserves eternal woes for the wicked man in retribution, and sometimes smites through his soul even here with temporal woe, because both here and there too He smites, 'divideth sorrows in His fury' upon the head of the ungodly. For neither does present punishment, which does not turn the mind of the wicked man from his bad desires, set him free from eternal chastisements. And hence it is said by the Psalmist, Upon the wicked He shall rain snares, fire, and brimstone, and blasts of storms; this shall be a portion of their cup. [Ps. 11, 6] In mentioning 'snares, fire, and brimstone, and blasts of storms,' he introduced indeed a multitude of woes; but because the sinner that is not amended by them is called to eternal punishments, he consequently called these woes no more his whole cup, but 'a portion of his cup,' seeing that their suffering is begun indeed here in woes, but is consummated in…
Dictionary and topics
Candle — Heb. ner, Job 18:6; 29:3; Ps. 18:28; Prov. 24:20, in all which places the Revised Version and margin of Authorized Version have “lamp,” by which the word is elsewhere frequently rendered. The Hebrew…
Afflictions Of The Wicked, The · Are often judicially sent — Are often judicially sent
Anger Of God, The · Manifested in judgments and afflictions — Manifested in judgments and afflictions
Lamps · Illustrative: (Put out,) of destruction of the wicked — Illustrative: (Put out,) of destruction of the wicked
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).
Keil & Delitzsch on Job 21:17-21
17 How rarely is the light of the wicked put out,
And their calamity breaketh in upon them,
That He distributeth snares in his wrath,
18 That they become as straw before the wind,
And as chaff which the storm sweepeth away!?
19 "Eloah layeth up his iniquity for his children!"
May He recompense it to him that he may feel it.
20 May his own eyes see his ruin,
And let him drink of the glowing wrath of the Almighty.
21 For what careth he for his house after him,
When the number of his months is cut off?
The interrogative כּמּה has here the same signification as in Psa 78:40 : how often (comp. Job 7:19, how long? Job 13:23, how many?), but in the sense of "how seldom?!" How seldom does what the f…
light of the wicked never seems to be extinguished: Job countered Bildad (18:5-6, 18) and standard wisdom (Prov 13:9; 20:20; 24:20; see God’s remarks, Job 38:15).
Rashi on Job 21:17
How long? May the lamp of the wicked be snuffed out This refers back to the above, to (verse 7) “Why do the wicked live on?” How long will You lengthen this time [the lifetime of the wicked]? Then he continues and curses them, “May the lamp of the wicked be snuffed out...”
lots Heb. חבלים, the lot that they deserve.
