properly · preposition + noun, common masculine singular absolute
before
לִפְנֵיlif.nei-
H6440
the face (as the part that turns) · preposition + noun, common masculine plural construct
wind
ר֑וּחַRu.ach
H7307
wind · noun, common feminine singular absolute
chaff
וּ֝כְמֹ֗ץu.khe.Motz
H4671
chaff (as pressed out · conjunction + preposition + noun, common masculine singular absolute
storm
סוּפָֽהsu.Fah
H5492
a hurricane · noun, common feminine singular absolute
away
גְּנָבַ֥תּוּge.na.Va.tu
H1589
to thieve (literally or figuratively) · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person feminine singular + 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
Psalms 1:4 The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.
Psalms 83:13 O my God, make them like a wheel; as the stubble before the wind.
Job 13:25 Wilt thou break a leaf driven to and fro? and wilt thou pursue the dry stubble?
Psalms 35:5 Let them be as chaff before the wind: and let the angel of the LORD chase them.
Isaiah 17:13 The nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters: but God shall rebuke them, and they shall flee far off, and shall be chased as the c…
Isaiah 29:5 Moreover the multitude of thy strangers shall be like small dust, and the multitude of the terrible ones shall be as chaff that passeth away…
Jeremiah 13:24 Therefore will I scatter them as the stubble that passeth away by the wind of the wilderness.
Exodus 15:7 And in the greatness of thine excellency thou hast overthrown them that rose up against thee: thou sentest forth thy wrath, which consumed t…
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 alludes to a like sentiment of Bildad (Job 18:18), using his own previous words (Job 13:25).
John Gill on Job 21:18
They are as stubble before the wind,.... Or how oft "are they as stubble?" &c. or how oft does God do the above things, "so that they are", or "become, as stubble before the wind" (u),
and as chaff that the storm carrieth, or "steals away" (x)? hastily, suddenly, at an unawares like a thief: wicked men are comparable to stubble and chaff; for the vanity of their minds, their emptiness of all good things; for their lightness, the levity and inconstancy of their hearts, their principles and practices; for their uselessness and unprofitableness to God and men, to themselves and their fellow creatures; for their being fit fuel for everlasting burnings, their end like these being to be burned; a…
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…
The Church Fathers
Ver. 18. They shall be as chaff before the wind, and as ashes that the storm scattereth. 56. When the wicked man is seen in power, when he is utterly without check or restraint in his acts of oppression and violence, by the imaginations of the weak he is accounted too well ballasted, and as rooted in this world. But when the sentence of the strict Judge cometh, 'all the wicked shall be as chaff before the wind,' because, if I may say so, all they are by the sudden blast of wrath lifted and carried to the fire, whom here once in their hasty judgments the tears of the distressed were as unable to move as a superincumbent mass of a stubborn weight. And to the hands of griping Judgment those are light, who by injustice were heavy upon their neighbours. And as ashes that the storm scattereth. Before the eyes of Almighty God, the life of the wicked man is ashes, in that though he appear green for a moment, yet is he already seen consumed by His judgment, seeing that he is set aside for everlasting burning. These ashes the storm disperses, in that, God shall come in state, even our God, and shall not keep silence. A fire shall devour before Him, and there shall be a mighty tempest round about Him. [Ps. 50, 3] For by the furiousness of this tempest the wicked are carried away from the sight of the eternal Judge. And those that here had set their mind firm with evil desire, will then appear but 'chaff' and 'ashes,' because those persons the storm seizes and transports to eternal punishment.
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
Agriculture — Tilling the ground (Gen. 2:15; 4:2, 3, 12) and rearing cattle were the chief employments in ancient times. The Egyptians excelled in agriculture. And after the Israelites entered into the possession…
Chaff · FIGURATIVE — FIGURATIVE
Stubble · .Of wicked people — .Of wicked people
Wicked (People) · .Chaff — .Chaff
Wicked, The, Are Compared To · Chaff — Chaff
Wind, The · When violent called: Storm — When violent called: Storm
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).
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.
