Job 21:16
Still, their prosperity is not in their own hands, so I stay far from the counsel of the wicked.
BSB
ASV
Lo, their prosperity is not in their hand: The counsel of the wicked is far from me.
KJV
Lo, their good is not in their hand: the counsel of the wicked is far from me.
Ver. 16. But because their good things are not in their hand, may their counsel be far from me. 54. He 'holds his good things in his hand,' who in despising temporal things, forces them under the dominion of the mind. For whoever loves them over much, subjects himself more to them, than them to himself.
Lo - But wicked men have no reason to reject God, because of their prosperity, for their wealth, is not in their hand; neither obtained, nor kept by their own might, but only by God's power and favour.
Their good is not in their hand - With all their boasting and self-dependence, God only lends them his bounty; and though it appears to be their own, yet it is at his disposal. Some of the wicked he permits to live and die in affluence, provided it be acquired in the ordinary way of his providence, by trade, commerce, etc. Others he permits to possess it for a while only, and then strips them of their illegally procured property.
Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread: the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.
The walk8
Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.
Through
Psalms 1:1Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, or set foot on the path of sinners, or sit in the seat of mockers.
leads to
I do not sit with deceitful men, nor keep company with hypocrites.
I never sat with the band of revelers, nor did I celebrate with them. Because Your hand was on me, I sat alone, for You have filled me with indignation.
Reached by 2 independent paths from here.
Do not set foot on the path of the wicked or walk in the way of evildoers.
He who walks with the wise will become wise, but the companion of fools will be destroyed.
Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the Law of the LORD.
Through
Genesis 49:6May I never enter their council; may I never join their assembly. For they kill men in their anger, and hamstring oxen on a whim.
leads to
Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought trouble upon me by making me a stench to the Canaanites and Perizzites, the people of this land. We are few in number; if…
Do not take my soul away with sinners, or my life with men of bloodshed,