Job 21:13
in Job 21They spend their days in prosperity and go down to Sheol in peace.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
They spend their days in prosperity, And in a moment they go down to Sheol.
KJV
They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment go down to the grave.
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This verse in Job 21
Commentary
8 notes on this verseThey spend their days in wealth,.... Or "in good" (p); not in the performance of good works, or in the exercise of that which is spiritually good; or in seeking after spiritual good things, or eternal happiness; but in earthly good, in the enjoyment of the temporal good things of this life, and which to enjoy in a moderate and becoming manner is not criminal, but commendable; but these men, and such as they, seek no other good but worldly good; their language is, "who will show us any good?"
This site's exposition
the tambourine and lyre
on Job 21:12-13
The end is quiet, "They spend their days in prosperity and go down to Sheol in peace", against Zophar's picture in chapter 20 of terror. Ease in life and a peaceful death together are the observation Job asks the friends to explain.
This site's exposition
go down to Sheol in peace
Henry reads the peace as a quick death without agony after days spent in prosperity. Barnes renders the first line literally: they wear out their days in good. The friends had promised the wicked terrors.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church2 voices
To answer the objection that their prosperity endures for a little while, or "like a speech", (20:5) he then says, "They spend their days in prosperity," as if to say: All the days of their lives are passed in prosperity. It is necessary that they …
Ver. 13. They spend their days in wealth, and in a point of time go down to the lower parts. 49. Yes, O blessed man, thou hadst for long dilated on their joys, how dost thou now declare that 'in a point of time they go down to the lower parts,' saving that all length of time of the present life is then known to be but a 'point,' when it is cut short by the end?
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
): They spend their days, all their days, in wealth, and never know what it is to want--in mirth, and never know what sadness means; and at last, without any previous alarms to frighten them, without any anguish or agony, in a moment they go down to the grave, and there are no bands in their death.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
They spend their days in wealth - Margin, or, “mirth.” Literally, “they wear out their days in good” - בטוב baṭôb. Vulgate “in bonis.” Septuagint, ἐν ἀγαθοῖς en agathois - “in good things;” in the enjoyment of good. They are not oppressed with the evils of poverty and want, but they have abundance of “the good things” of life. And in a moment go down to the grave - Hebrew to שׁאול she'ôl - but here meaning evidently the grave.
They spend their days in wealth - There is a various reading here of some importance. In the text we have יבלו yeballu, they grow old, or wear out as with old age, terent vetustate; and in the margin, יכלו yechallu, they consume; and the Masora states that this is one of the eleven words which are written with ב beth and must be read with כ caph. Several editions have the former word in the text, and the latter in the margin; the former being what is called the kethib, the latter keri. יבלו yeballu, they grow old, or wear out, is the reading of the Antwerp, Paris, and London Polyglots; יכלו yechallu, they accomplish or spend, is the reading of the Complutensian Polyglot, thirteen of Kennicott’s and De Rossi’s MSS., the Septuagint, Chaldee, Syriac, and Arabic. The Vulgate has ducunt, “they lead or spend,” from which our translation is borrowed. I incline to the former, as Job’s argument derives considerable strength from this circumstance; they not only spend their days in faring sumptuously every day; but they even wear out so as to grow old in it; they are not cut off by any sudden judgment of God. This is fact; therefore your doctrine, that the wicked are cut off suddenly and have but a short time, is far from the truth. In a moment go down to the grave - They wear out their years in pleasure; grow old in their gay and giddy life; and die, as in a moment, without previous sickness; or, as Mr. Good has it, They quietly descend into the grave.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
and in a moment they descend to the grave When his dying day arrived, he would die in a moment, easily, without suffering.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 7 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
6 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| יְכַלּ֣וּ | yekhalu | they complete | H3615 → | 208 times |
| בַטּ֣וֹב | vatov | in the good | H2896 → | 538 times |
| יְמֵיהֶ֑ם | yemeihem | days their | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| וּ֝בְרֶ֗גַע | uverega' | and in a moment | H7281 → | 22 times |
| שְׁא֣וֹל | sheol | Sheol | H7585 → | 66 times |
| יֵחָֽתּוּ׃ | yechatu | they descend | H5181 → |
יְכַלּ֣וּthey complete
yekhaluH3615 →208 times
בַטּ֣וֹבin the good
vatovH2896 →538 times
יְמֵיהֶ֑םdays their
yemeihemH3117 →2304 times
וּ֝בְרֶ֗גַעand in a moment
uverega'H7281 →22 times
שְׁא֣וֹלSheol
sheolH7585 →66 times
יֵחָֽתּוּ׃they descend
yechatuH5181 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Job 36:11If they obey and serve Him, then they end their days in prosperity and their years in happiness.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 7:23
but this is what I commanded them: Obey Me, and I will be your God, and you will be My people. You must walk in all the ways I have commanded you, so that…
- Jeremiah 26:13
So now, correct your ways and deeds, and obey the voice of the LORD your God, so that He might relent of the disaster He has pronounced against you.
- Isaiah 1:19
If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the best of the land.
- Deuteronomy 4:30
When you are in distress and all these things have happened to you, then in later days you will return to the LORD your God and listen to His voice.
- Hebrews 11:8
By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, without knowing where he was going.
- Jeremiah 7:23
Through
Psalms 73:4They have no struggle in their death; their bodies are well-fed.
it leads to
- Job 21:23–24
One man dies full of vigor, completely secure and at ease.
- Psalms 17:14
from such men, O LORD, by Your hand— from men of the world whose portion is in this life. May You fill the bellies of Your treasured ones and satisfy their sons, so they…
- Luke 16:22
One day the beggar died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side. And the rich man also died and was buried.
- Job 21:23–24
About Job

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Job; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book XV; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.
