21:7 “Why do the wicked go on living, 1
grow old, 2 even increase in power?
22:15 Will you keep to the old path 3
that evil men have walked –
32:9 It is not the aged 4 who are wise,
nor old men who understand what is right.
1 sn A. B. Davidson (Job, 154) clarifies that Job’s question is of a universal scope. In the government of God, why do the wicked exist at all? The verb could be translated “continue to live.”
2 tn The verb עָתַק (’ataq) means “to move; to proceed; to advance.” Here it is “to advance in years” or “to grow old.” This clause could serve as an independent clause, a separate sentence; but it more likely continues the question of the first colon and is parallel to the verb “live.”
3 tn The “old path” here is the way of defiance to God. The text in these two verses is no doubt making reference to the flood in Genesis, one of the perennial examples of divine judgment.
4 tn The MT has “the great” or “the many,” meaning great in years according to the parallelism.