Job 21:17
in Job 21How often is the lamp of the wicked put out? Does disaster come upon them? Does God, in His anger, apportion destruction?
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
How oft is it that the lamp of the wicked is put out? That their calamity cometh upon them? That God distributeth sorrows in his anger?
KJV
How oft is the candle of the wicked put out! and how oft cometh their destruction upon them! God distributeth sorrows in his anger.
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This verse in Job 21
Commentary
8 notes on this verseVer. 17. How often shall their candle be put out? and how oft shall a flood come over them, and shall He divide sorrows in His fury? 55. It often happens that the wicked man reckons the life of his children as a 'candle,' but when the son, that is loved overmuch, is taken away, what seemed the 'light' of the wicked is 'put out.'
This site's exposition
the lamp of the wicked put out
on Job 21:17-18
Job turns the friends' own image into a question, "How often is the lamp of the wicked put out". The form grants it happens while denying that it happens as a rule. Clarke reads "How often" as the hinge of the speech, turning a supposed universal into an exception.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
Consider further that the adversity of an evil man is worse than that of the just man, because when the just man suffers temporal adversity, the support of virtue and the consolation in God remains to him. So he is not totally overthrown. But no …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Do you not as often see their mirth and prosperity continuing to the last?" Perhaps there are as many instances of notorious sinners ending their days in pomp as ending them in misery, which observation is sufficient to invalidate their arguments against Job and to show that no certain judgment can be made of men's character by their outward condition.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — odd-straight-quotes
How oft is the candle of the wicked put out?.... Job here returns, as Jarchi observes, to his former account of the constant and continued prosperity of wicked men; and puts questions tending to prove the same. Bildad had said, that the light and candle of the wicked would be put out, Job 18:
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
How oft is the candle of the wicked put out? - Margin, “lamp.” A light, or a lamp, was an image of prosperity. There is, probably, an allusion here to what had been maintained by Bildad, Job 18:5-6, that the light of the wicked would be extinguished, and their dwellings made dark; see the notes at those verses. Job replies to this by asking how often it occurred. He inquires whether it was a frequent thing. By this, he implies that it was not universal; that it was a less frequent occurrence than they supposed.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Job in this whole passage down to Job 21:21 quotes the assertion of the friends, as to the short continuance of the sinner's prosperity, not his own sentiments.
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
How oft is the candle of the wicked put out? - The candle or lamp is often used, both as the emblem of prosperity and of posterity. Oftentimes the rejoicing of the wicked is short; and, not unfrequently, his seed is cut off from the earth. The root is dried up, and the branch is withered. God distributeth sorrows in his anger - He must be incensed against those who refuse to know, serve, and pray unto him. In his anger, therefore, he portions out to each his due share of misery, vexation, and wo.
The words behind it
10 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כַּמָּ֤ה׀ | kamah | how often? | H4100 → | 752 times |
| נֵר־ | ner- | [the] lamp of | H5216 → | 49 times |
| רְשָׁ֘עִ֤ים | reshaim | wicked [people] | H7563 → | 263 times |
| יִדְעָ֗ךְ | yidakh | is it extinguished | H1846 → | 9 times |
| וְיָבֹ֣א | veyavo' | and it may come? | H935 → | 2568 times |
| עָלֵ֣ימוֹ | ʾaleimov | on them | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| אֵידָ֑ם | ʾeidam | calamity their | H343 → | 24 times |
| חֲ֝בָלִ֗ים | chavalim | pain<s> | H2256 → | 62 times |
| יְחַלֵּ֥ק | yechalek | does he apportion? | H2505 → | 65 times |
| בְּאַפּֽוֹ׃ | beapo | in anger his | H639 → | 276 times |
כַּמָּ֤ה׀how often?
kamahH4100 →752 times
נֵר־[the] lamp of
ner-H5216 →49 times
רְשָׁ֘עִ֤יםwicked [people]
reshaimH7563 →263 times
יִדְעָ֗ךְis it extinguished
yidakhH1846 →9 times
וְיָבֹ֣אand it may come?
veyavo'H935 →2568 times
עָלֵ֣ימוֹon them
ʾaleimovH5921 →5755 times
אֵידָ֑םcalamity their
ʾeidamH343 →24 times
חֲ֝בָלִ֗יםpain<s>
chavalimH2256 →62 times
יְחַלֵּ֥קdoes he apportion?
yechalekH2505 →65 times
בְּאַפּֽוֹ׃in anger his
beapoH639 →276 times
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
Proverbs 13:9The light of the righteous shines brightly, but the lamp of the wicked is extinguished.
it leads to
- Proverbs 24:20
For the evil man has no future; the lamp of the wicked will be extinguished.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Proverbs 4:18
The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining brighter and brighter until midday.
- Proverbs 20:20
Whoever curses his father or mother, his lamp will be extinguished in deepest darkness.
- Psalms 112:4
Light dawns in the darkness for the upright— for the gracious, compassionate, and righteous.
- Proverbs 24:20
Through
Proverbs 20:20Whoever curses his father or mother, his lamp will be extinguished in deepest darkness.
it leads to
- Exodus 21:17
Anyone who curses his father or mother must surely be put to death.
- Proverbs 30:11
There is a generation of those who curse their fathers and do not bless their mothers.
- Proverbs 30:17
As for the eye that mocks a father and scorns obedience to a mother, may the ravens of the valley pluck it out and young vultures devour it.
- Jude 1:13
They are wild waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame; wandering stars, for whom blackest darkness has been reserved forever.
- Exodus 21:17
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 (1832-1869); Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book XV; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.