Job 21:18

They shall be as chaff before the face of the wind; and as a dead spark, that the whirlwind scattereth abroad. (Be they ever like chaff before the face of the wind? or like a dead spark that the whirlwind scattereth abroad?)

Wycliffe Modern Spelling

In The King James Version

They are as stubble before the wind, and as chaff that the storm carrieth away.

In Context

17How oft shall the lantern of wicked men be quenched, and flowing shall come upon them, and God shall part with them the sorrows of his strong vengeance? (How often is the lantern of the wicked quenched, and destruction shall come upon them? how often shall God impart to them the sorrows of his strong vengeance?)

19(Ye say), God shall keep the sorrow of the father to his sons; and when he hath yielded to them vengeance, then he shall know it. (Ye say, God shall put the father’s punishment upon his sons; (but I say), No! he shall yield vengeance to him who deserveth it, and he shall know (it).)

Read all of Job 21

Cross References

Exodus 15:7And in the multitude of thy glory, thou hast put down all thine adversaries; thou sentest thine ire, that devoured them as stubble, (or thou sentest out thy anger, that devoured them like stubble).

Job 27:21Burning wind shall take him (up), and it shall do him away; and as a whirlwind it shall ravish him from his place (or and like a whirlwind it shall snatch him away from his place).

Psalms 35:5Be they made as dust before the face of the wind; and the angel of the Lord make them strait. (Let them be made like the dust in the wind; and let the angel of the Lord pursue them.)

Psalms 83:14As fire that burneth a wood; and as flame burning hills. (Like the fire that burneth a wood; and the flames that burn the hills,)

Isaiah 17:13Peoples shall sound as the sound of flowing waters, and God shall blame him; and he shall flee far, and he shall be ravished as the dust of hills from the face of the wind, and as a whirlwind before [the] tempest. (The peoples shall sound like the sound of flowing water, and God shall rebuke them; and they shall flee far away, and they shall be driven like the dust on the hills by the face of the wind, and like a whirlwind before the tempest.)

Isaiah 40:24And soothly when the stock of them is neither planted, neither is sown, neither is rooted in [the] earth, he blew suddenly on them, and they dried up, and a whirlwind shall take them away as stubble. (And truly when their stock is neither planted, nor is sown, nor is rooted in the earth, he shall suddenly blow on them, and they shall all be dried up, and then a whirlwind shall take them away like stubble.)

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 →

This Verse In Other Editions

Study Job 21:18