Ayub 21:7

The Wicked Prosper

21:7 “Why do the wicked go on living, ¹ 

grow old, ²  even increase in power?

Ayub 33:30

33:30 to turn back his life from the place of corruption,

that he may be enlightened with the light of life.

Ayub 36:14

36:14 They die ³  in their youth,

and their life ends among the male cultic prostitutes. ⁴ 

[21:7]  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.”

[21:7]  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.”

[36:14]  ³ tn The text expresses this with “their soul dies.”

[36:14]  ⁴ tn Heb “among the male prostitutes” who were at the temple – the “holy ones,” with “holy” being used in that sense of “separated to that form of temple service.” So uncleanness and shame are some of the connotations of the reference. Some modern translations give the general sense only: “their life ends in shame” (NRSV); “and perish among the reprobate” (NAB); “die…after wasting their lives in immoral living” (NLT).