Job 21:8
in Job 21Their descendants are established around them, and their offspring before their eyes.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Their seed is established with them in their sight, And their offspring before their eyes.
KJV
Their seed is established in their sight with them, and their offspring before their eyes.
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This verse in Job 21
Commentary
9 notes on this verseVer. 8. Their seed is established in their sight with them. 46. For the increase of exceeding happiness, together with a large patrimony, they have heirs too given them; and that no unavoidable temporal circumstance either may remove from their eyes those in whom their soul delights, it is said of this seed of theirs, Their seed is established in their sight. But what if children are vouchsafed, yet the children themselves stricken with barrenness? The family is made extinct in them, in like sort as it was feared it would be made extinct by the barrenness of their parents.
This site's exposition
Why do the wicked live on
on Job 21:7-9
Job sets plain observation against the doctrine Zophar has just stated at 20:5: "Why do the wicked live on, growing old and increasing in power". The line "Their homes are safe from fear; no rod of punishment from God is upon them" answers Zophar's catalogue of ruin point for point.
This site's exposition
Their descendants are established around them
Barnes notes that the friends had held the children of the wicked would be cut off, citing Job 18:19 and 20:28. Job answers that the wicked see their descendants established before their eyes. Clarke adds their grandchildren.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
Since you believe to be wise and to know the reason why I suffer these afflictions, now answer my question. Why does it happen that very often many impious persons reach an old age in their wealth?… Their fields produce large crops, and they are …
The Medieval Church1 voice
Also, against Sophar's statement, "His sons will be reduced to poverty," (20:10) he says, "Their seed endures in their presence," that is, their sons endure, with them looking on. He then says the same thing about other persons related to them saying, "the crowd of …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
): Their seed is established in their sight. This is put first, as that which gives both a pleasant enjoyment and a pleasing prospect. [2.] They are easy and quiet,
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
Their seed is established in their sight with them,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
Their seed is established - They see their own children grow up, and become settled in the land; and behold their children’s children also; so that their generations are not cut off. Even the posterity of the wicked continue.
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Their seed - Their children - their posterity. Is established in their sight - Around them, where they may often see them - where they may enjoy their society. The friends of Job had maintained, with great positiveness and earnestness, that the children of wicked people would be cut off. See Job 18:19; Job 20:28. This position Job now directly controverts, and says that it is a fact, that so far from being cut off, they are often established in the very presence of their ungodly parents, and live and prosper. How, he asks, is this consistent with the position, that God deals with people in this life according to their character?
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| זַרְעָ֤ם | zaram | offspring their | H2233 → | 229 times |
| נָכ֣וֹן | nakhon | [is] established | H3559 → | 217 times |
| לִפְנֵיהֶ֣ם | lifneihem | <to> before them | H6440 → | 2123 times |
| עִמָּ֑ם | ʾimam | with them | H5973 → | 1050 times |
| וְ֝צֶאֱצָאֵיהֶ֗ם | vetzeetzaeihem | and descendants their | H6631 → | 11 times |
| לְעֵינֵיהֶֽם׃ | leeineihem | to eyes their | H5869 → | 887 times |
זַרְעָ֤םoffspring their
zaramH2233 →229 times
נָכ֣וֹן[is] established
nakhonH3559 →217 times
לִפְנֵיהֶ֣ם<to> before them
lifneihemH6440 →2123 times
עִמָּ֑םwith them
ʾimamH5973 →1050 times
וְ֝צֶאֱצָאֵיהֶ֗םand descendants their
vetzeetzaeihemH6631 →11 times
לְעֵינֵיהֶֽם׃to eyes their
leeineihemH5869 →887 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 17:6Grandchildren are the crown of the aged, and the glory of a son is his father.
it leads to
- Psalms 127:3–5
Children are indeed a heritage from the LORD, and the fruit of the womb is His reward.
- Proverbs 16:31
Gray hair is a crown of glory; it is attained along the path of righteousness.
- Proverbs 13:22
A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children, but the sinner’s wealth is passed to the righteous.
- Psalms 128:3–6
Your wife will be like a fruitful vine flourishing within your house, your sons like olive shoots sitting around your table.
- Psalms 127:3–5
Through
Psalms 17:14from 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…
it leads to
- Job 22:18
But it was He who filled their houses with good things; so I stay far from the counsel of the wicked.
- John 17:14
I have given them Your word and the world has hated them; for they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.
- John 8:23
Then He told them, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world.
- Luke 16:8
The master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly. For the sons of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the sons of light.
- Job 22:18
About Job
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; 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); Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Book of Job; 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; Olympiodorus of Alexandria, COMMENTARY ON JOB 21:6-14 and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.