Job 21:26
But both rich and poor people die and are buried, and maggots eat their bodies. Everyone dies, so it is clear that dying is not always the punishment for being wicked.
Translation for Translators
In The King James Version
They shall lie down alike in the dust, and the worms shall cover them.
In Context
25Other people die being very miserable; they have never experienced good things happening to them.
27“Listen, I know what you three are thinking. I know the evil things that you plan to do to me.
Cross References
Job 3:18Those who were in prison rest peacefully after they die; they no longer have slave-drivers who curse them.
Job 17:14I may say to the grave, ‘You will be like a father to me,’ and say to the maggots that will eat my body, ‘You will be like a mother or younger sisters to me because you will be where I will always be.’
Job 20:11Previously their bodies were young and strong, but they will die and their bodies will be buried in the ground.
Psalms 49:14They are certain to die just like sheep, when a shepherd leads them away to be slaughtered. [PRS, MET] In the morning righteous people will rule over them, and then those wealthy people will die and their bodies will quickly decay in their graves; they will be where dead people are, far from their homes.
Ecclesiastes 9:3It seems wrong that the same thing happens to everyone on this earth: Everyone dies [EUP]. Furthermore, people’s inner beings are full of evil. People do foolish things while they are alive, and then they die and join those who are already dead.
Matthew Henry on Job 21:18-27
Certain Punishments of the Wicked; Divine Sovereignty. ( b. c. 1520.) 17 How oft is the candle of the wicked put out! and how oft cometh their destruction upon them! God distributeth sorrows in his anger. 18 They are as stubble before the wind, and as chaff that the storm carrieth away. 19 God layeth up his iniquity for his children: he rewardeth him, and he shall know it. 20 His eyes shall see his destruction, and he shall drink of the wrath of the Almighty. 21 For what pleasure hath he in his house after him,… Read the whole commentary →