Job 21:28
in Job 21For you say, ‘Where now is the nobleman’s house, and where are the tents in which the wicked dwell?’
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
For ye say, Where is the house of the prince? And where is the tent wherein the wicked dwelt?
KJV
For ye say, Where is the house of the prince? and where are the dwelling places of the wicked?
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This verse in Job 21
Commentary
8 notes on this verseVer. 27, 28. Behold I know your thoughts, and the devices that ye wrongfully imagine against me. For ye say, Where is the house of the prince? and where are the dwellings of the wicked? 63. For they had imagined him a wicked man, whom they saw, his substance gone, in a temporal way ruined. But the holy man judges them with a lofty review in proportion as amidst the losses which he had met with, he was standing with undiminished uprightness.
This site's exposition
I know your thoughts
on Job 21:27-28
Job names what stands behind the friends' approach, "I know your thoughts full well". He accuses them of taking his ruined estate as evidence, the logic the reader knows from chapters 1 and 2 to be false. The charge is aimed at their method as well as their conclusion.
This site's exposition
where are the tents in which the wicked dwell
Job quotes the friends' argument. Barnes takes the nobleman as a wicked ruler, and Clarke hears them asking where the tyrant's house now stands. Henry notes that Job appeals from them to the judgment of all mankind.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
So he continues, "For you say: Where is the house of the leader? Where are the tents of the wicked?" as if to say: You fell together with your family from such a great preeminence as the tents of the evil men usually fall.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
He lays down his own judgment to the contrary, and, for proof of it, appeals to the sentiments and observations of all mankind. So confident is he that he is in the right that he is willing to refer the cause to the next man that comes by (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
For ye say,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
For ye say, Where is the house of the prince? - In order to prove your point, ye ask, Where is the house of the tyrant and oppressor? Are they not overthrown and destroyed? And is not this a proof that God does not permit the wicked to enjoy prosperity?
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
For ye say, Where is the house of the prince? - That is, you maintain that the house of the wicked man, in a high station, will be certainly over thrown. The parallelism, as well as the whole connection, requires us to understand the word “prince” here as referring to a “wicked” ruler. The word used (נדיב nâdı̂yb) properly means, one willing, voluntary, prompt; then, one who is liberal, generous, noble; then, one of noble birth, or of elevated rank; and then, as princes often had that character, it is used in a bad sense, and means a “tyrant.” See Isa 13:2. And where are the dwelling places of the wicked - Margin, “tent of the tabernacles.” The Hebrew is, “The tent of the dwelling places.” The dwelling place was usually a “tent.” The meaning is, that such dwelling places would be certainly destroyed, as an expression of the divine displeasure.
The words behind it
9 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כִּ֤י | ki | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| תֹֽאמְר֗וּ | tomeru | you say | H559 → | 5305 times |
| אַיֵּ֥ה | ʾaiyeh | where? | H346 → | 45 times |
| בֵית־ | veit- | [is the] house of | H1004 → | 2046 times |
| נָדִ֑יב | nadiv | a noble [person] | H5081 → | 29 times |
| וְ֝אַיֵּ֗ה | veaiyeh | and where? | H346 → | 45 times |
| אֹ֤הֶל׀ | ʾohel | [is the] tent of | H168 → | 345 times |
| מִשְׁכְּנ֬וֹת | mishkenot | [the] dwelling places of | H4908 → | 139 times |
| רְשָׁעִֽים׃ | reshaim | wicked [people] | H7563 → | 263 times |
כִּ֤יfor
kiH3588 →4482 times
תֹֽאמְר֗וּyou say
tomeruH559 →5305 times
אַיֵּ֥הwhere?
ʾaiyehH346 →45 times
בֵית־[is the] house of
veit-H1004 →2046 times
נָדִ֑יבa noble [person]
nadivH5081 →29 times
וְ֝אַיֵּ֗הand where?
veaiyehH346 →45 times
אֹ֤הֶל׀[is the] tent of
ʾohelH168 →345 times
מִשְׁכְּנ֬וֹת[the] dwelling places of
mishkenotH4908 →139 times
רְשָׁעִֽים׃wicked [people]
reshaimH7563 →263 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
Job 8:22Your enemies will be clothed in shame, and the tent of the wicked will be no more.”
it leads to
- Job 8:18
If he is uprooted from his place, it will disown him, saying, ‘I never saw you.’
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Psalms 132:18
I will clothe his enemies with shame, but the crown upon him will gleam.”
- Psalms 35:26
May those who gloat in my distress be ashamed and confounded; may those who exalt themselves over me be clothed in shame and reproach.
- Psalms 109:29
May my accusers be clothed with disgrace; may they wear their shame like a robe.
- Job 18:14
He is torn from the shelter of his tent and is marched off to the king of terrors.
- Job 8:18
Through
Psalms 37:36yet he passed away and was no more; though I searched, he could not be found.
it leads to
- Psalms 37:10
Yet a little while, and the wicked will be no more; though you look for them, they will not be found.
- Psalms 37:10
Through
Job 20:7he will perish forever, like his own dung; those who had seen him will ask, ‘Where is he?’
it leads to
- 1 Kings 14:10
Because of all this, behold, I am bringing disaster on the house of Jeroboam: I will cut off from Jeroboam every male, both slave and free, in Israel; I will burn up the house…
- Psalms 83:10
who perished at Endor and became like dung on the ground.
- 1 Kings 14:10
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.