Bible Strands
Job 21:17
How often is the lamp of the wicked put out? Does disaster come upon them? Does God, in His anger, apportion destruction?
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Job speaks to his friends during a dispute over divine justice, directly countering their assertion that God immediately punishes the wicked. He raises rhetorical questions about the timing of their downfall while noting their current prosperity.
The words — נֵר (ner) means "lamp," and יִדְעָךְ (yid'akh) translates to "is extinguished." These terms anchor the verse’s central metaphor of sudden darkness overtaking the wicked.
The thread — The image of the wicked’s lamp being put out recurs in Job 18:5, Proverbs 13:9, and Proverbs 20:20. Each reference uses the extinguished lamp to denote the abrupt end of a wicked person’s life or influence.
Why it lands — The text demands the reader examine whether immediate disaster actually follows wickedness, as the friends claim. It requires a plain assessment of observed reality against rigid theological formulas.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
How oft is the candle of the wicked put out! and how oft cometh their destruction upon them! God distributeth sorrows in his anger.
Cross-references
- Job 18:5 Indeed, the lamp of the wicked is extinguished; the flame of his fire does not glow.
- Proverbs 13:9 The light of the righteous shines brightly, but the lamp of the wicked is extinguished.
- Proverbs 20:20 Whoever curses his father or mother, his lamp will be extinguished in deepest darkness.
- Job 18:18 He is driven from light into darkness and is chased from the inhabited world.
- Psalms 32:10 Many are the sorrows of the wicked, but loving devotion surrounds him who trusts in the LORD.
- Psalms 90:7 For we are consumed by Your anger and terrified by Your wrath.
- Proverbs 24:20 For the evil man has no future; the lamp of the wicked will be extinguished.
- Matthew 25:8 The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’
- Luke 12:46 The master of that servant will come on a day he does not expect and at an hour he does not anticipate. Then he will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the unbelievers.
- Romans 2:8 But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow wickedness, there will be wrath and anger.