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19 You may say,[a] ‘God stores up a man’s[b] punishment for his children!’[c]
Instead let him repay[d] the man himself[e]
so that[f] he may be humbled![g]
20 Let his own eyes see his destruction;[h]
let him drink of the anger of the Almighty.
21 For what is his interest[i] in his home
after his death,[j]
when the number of his months
has been broken off?[k]

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Footnotes

  1. Job 21:19 tn These words are supplied. The verse records an idea that Job suspected they might have, namely, that if the wicked die well God will make their children pay for their sins (see Job 5:4; 20:10; as well as Exod 20:5).
  2. Job 21:19 tn The text simply has אוֹנוֹ (ʾono, “his iniquity”), but by usage, “the punishment for the iniquity.”
  3. Job 21:19 tn Heb “his sons.”
  4. Job 21:19 tn The verb שָׁלַם (shalam) in the Piel has the meaning of restoring things to normal, making whole, and so reward, repay (if for sins), or recompense in general.
  5. Job 21:19 tn The text simply has “let him repay [to] him.”
  6. Job 21:19 tn The imperfect verb after the jussive carries the meaning of a purpose clause, and so taken as a final imperfect: “in order that he may be humbled.”
  7. Job 21:19 tn The common verb יָדַע (yadaʿ) means “to know.” Among homophonous roots DCH includes יָדַע II meaning “be quiet, at rest; be submissive, humbled” (cf. Prov 5:6; Isa 45:4; Jer 14:18; Hos 9:7).
  8. Job 21:20 tc This word occurs only here. The word כִּיד (kid) was connected to Arabic kaid, “fraud, trickery,” or “warfare.” The word is emended by the commentators to other ideas, such as פִּיד (pid, “[his] calamity”). Dahood and others alter it to “cup”; Wright to “weapons.” A. F. L. Beeston argues for a meaning “condemnation” for the MT form, and so makes no change in the text (Mus 67 [1954]: 315-16). If the connection to Arabic “warfare” is sustained, or if such explanations of the existing MT can be sustained, then the text need not be emended. In any case, the sense of the line is clear.
  9. Job 21:21 tn Heb “his desire.” The meaning is that after he is gone he does not care about what happens to his household (“house” meaning “family” here).
  10. Job 21:21 tn Heb “after him,” but clearly the meaning is “after he is gone.”
  11. Job 21:21 tc The rare word חֻצָּצוּ (khutsatsu) is probably a cognate of hassa in Arabic, meaning “to cut off.” There is also an Akkadian word “to cut in two” and “to break.” These fit the context here rather well. The other Hebrew words that are connected to the root חָצַץ (khatsats) do not offer any help.

19 “‘Well,’ you say, ‘at least God will punish their children!’
    But I say he should punish the ones who sin,
    so that they understand his judgment.
20 Let them see their destruction with their own eyes.
    Let them drink deeply of the anger of the Almighty.
21 For they will not care what happens to their family
    after they are dead.

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