Job 21:8

Their seed is established in their sight with them, and their offspring before their eyes.

King James Version · Read in your translation · Open the Explore console

Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
seed	זַרְעָ֤ם zar.'Am	H2233	seed · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
established	נָכ֣וֹן na.Khon	H3559	properly · verb, niphal active participle, masculine singular absolute
sight	לִפְנֵיהֶ֣ם lif.nei.Hem	H6440	the face (as the part that turns) · preposition + noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
offspring	וְ֝צֶאֱצָאֵיהֶ֗ם ve.tze.'e.tza.'ei.Hem	H6631	issue · conjunction + noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
eyes	לְעֵינֵיהֶֽם le.'ei.nei.Hem	H5869	an eye (literally or figuratively) · preposition + noun, common feminine dual construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine 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

Proverbs 17:6 Children’s children are the crown of old men; and the glory of children are their fathers.
Job 5:3-4 I have seen the foolish taking root: but suddenly I cursed his habitation.
Job 18:19 He shall neither have son nor nephew among his people, nor any remaining in his dwellings.
Job 20:10 His children shall seek to please the poor, and his hands shall restore their goods.
Job 20:28 The increase of his house shall depart, and his goods shall flow away in the day of his wrath.
Psalms 17:14 From men which are thy hand, O LORD, from men of the world, which have their portion in this life, and whose belly thou fillest with thy hid…

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…

Read the whole note in the console

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Job 21:8

In opposition to Job 18:19; Job 5:4.

John Gill on Job 21:8

Their seed is established in their sight with them,.... Which is to be understood not of seed sown in the earth, and of the permanence and increase of that, but of their children; to have a numerous progeny, was reckoned a great temporal blessing, and to have them settled happily and comfortably in the world was an additional one; and what contributed still more to their felicity was, that they were well settled during their life, or they yet living, and with their eyes beholding their prosperous and stable condition; and also "with them"; near them, in the same neighbourhood, or at no great distance from them; or even in like circumstances with them, equally as well settled and as prosperou…

Read the whole note in the console

Keil & Delitzsch on Job 21:7-11

7 Wherefore do the wicked live, Become old, yea, become mighty in power? 8 Their posterity is established before them about them, And their offspring before their eyes. 9 Their houses have peace without fear, And the rod of Eloah cometh not upon them. 10 His (the evil-doer's) bull gendereth and faileth not; His cow calveth easily, and casteth not her calf. 11 They let their little ones run about as a flock, And their children jump about. The question in Job 21:7 is the same as that which Jeremiah also puts forth, Job 12:1-3. It is the antithesis of Zophar's thesis, Job 20:5, and seeks the reason of the fact established by experience which had also well-nigh proved the ruin of Asaph (Ps 73: c…

The Church Fathers

Ver. 8. Their seed is established in their sight with them. 46. For the increase of exceeding happiness, together with a large patrimony, they have heirs too given them; and that no unavoidable temporal circumstance either may remove from their eyes those in whom their soul delights, it is said of this seed of theirs, Their seed is established in their sight. But what if children are vouchsafed, yet the children themselves stricken with barrenness? The family is made extinct in them, in like sort as it was feared it would be made extinct by the barrenness of their parents. It goes on; And a crowd of kinfolk and grandchildren before their eyes. Observe, life is theirs, honours and riches are theirs, children are theirs, grandchildren are theirs. What if any secret fancy gall the mind, and domestic discord pierce the joys of their security? What is the prosperity of this world, if it be not joyful?
— Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book XV

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

Rich, The · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Sin · The wicked: Encouraged in, by prosperity — The wicked: Encouraged in, by prosperity

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).

Job 21:8

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Job 21:7-16

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Job 21:8

John Gill on Job 21:8

Keil & Delitzsch on Job 21:7-11

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Job 21:8

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Job 21:7-16

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Job 21:8

John Gill on Job 21:8

Keil & Delitzsch on Job 21:7-11

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Job 21:8

Rashi on Job 21:6