Job 21:1-34

21:1-34 | This is Job’s reply to Zophar’s second speech: The dogma of retributive judgment fails when one observes truly wicked people seeming to prosper. The outcomes of personal fortunes in this life are not the standards of eternity.

21:2-5 | Job desired to speak without being interrupted or subjected to incredulous groans from his friends.

21:13-15 | Zophar had claimed that longevity and prosperity in this life are linked to one’s wickedness or righteousness. Job countered, emphasizing that the godless and the wicked often enjoy life and go to their deaths in peace (Eccl. 8:10). In fact, Job could not understand why the wicked seemingly live on in their unrighteousness while, as a righteous man, he was dying. The godless are those who say to God, Depart from us.

21:16 | In Job’s mind, there was no point in listening to the prosperous; they had nothing to say to him.

21:22-34 | Job concluded that in the end, no connection exists between how one lives and the prosperity or poverty a person experiences, and so trying to sort out life based on observation is futile. Job could see no justice in the world or with God, yet he could clearly recognize falsehood in his friends’ answers. They had based their assumptions in their own intellect and pride.