Job 21:14-16
14 So they say to God, ‘Turn away from us!We do not want to ▼
▼ The absence of the preposition before the complement adds greater vividness to the statement: “and knowing your ways – we do not desire.”
know your ways. ▼ 15 Who is the Almighty, that ▼ we should serve him?
What would we gain
if we were to pray ▼
▼ The verb פָּגַע (paga’) means “to encounter; to meet,” but also “to meet with request; to intercede; to interpose.” The latter meaning is a derived meaning by usage.
to him?’ ▼▼ The verse is not present in the LXX. It may be that it was considered too blasphemous and therefore omitted.
16 But their prosperity is not their own doing. ▼
▼ Heb “is not in their hand.”
▼▼ The implication of this statement is that their well-being is from God, which is the problem Job is raising in the chapter. A number of commentators make it a question, interpreting it to mean that the wicked enjoy prosperity as if it is their right. Some emend the text to say “his hands” – Gordis reads it, “Indeed, our prosperity is not in his hands.”
The counsel of the wicked is far from me! ▼
▼ Even though their life seems so good in contrast to his own plight, Job cannot and will not embrace their principles – “far be from me their counsel.”
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