21:14 So they say to God, ‘Turn away from us!
We do not want to 1 know your ways. 2
21:15 Who is the Almighty, that 3 we should serve him?
What would we gain
if we were to pray 4 to him?’ 5
21:16 But their prosperity is not their own doing. 6
The counsel of the wicked is far from me! 7
1 tn The absence of the preposition before the complement adds greater vividness to the statement: “and knowing your ways – we do not desire.”
2 sn Contrast Ps 25:4, which affirms that walking in God’s ways means to obey God’s will – the Torah.
3 tn The interrogative clause is followed by ki, similar to Exod 5:2, “Who is Yahweh, that I should obey him?”
4 tn 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.
5 tn The verse is not present in the LXX. It may be that it was considered too blasphemous and therefore omitted.
6 tn Heb “is not in their hand.”
sn 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.”
7 sn 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.”