What is the meaning of Job 21:31? Who denounces his behavior to his face? • Job pictures a powerful, wicked man striding through life unchecked. No one dares walk up and confront him. • Psalm 73:6-9 shows the arrogant “set their mouths against the heavens” while people “turn to them and drink in their words.” The crowd often admires success, even when it’s corrupt. • Ecclesiastes 8:11 notes, “Because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed quickly, the heart of men is fully set to do evil.” Delay emboldens wrongdoing. • Proverbs 18:23 contrasts the “rich man” who “answers harshly,” implying that wealth can silence critics. • In Job’s day (and ours) social standing, intimidation, or sheer indifference keeps most witnesses quiet. Job laments, “Who?”—because almost nobody steps up. Who repays him for what he has done? • The second question deepens the first. Even if no one confronts him, surely someone must settle accounts—yet it rarely happens in this life. • Job acknowledges earthly courts often fail (Job 21:7-13). The wicked die “in full vigor, completely secure and at ease.” • Still, Scripture insists God’s justice is never thwarted. Hebrews 9:27: “It is appointed for man to die once, and after that to face judgment.” • Romans 2:5-6 promises God “will repay each person according to his deeds.” • Revelation 20:12-13 portrays the final judgment where “the dead were judged according to their deeds.” • While human systems may not repay, the Lord “will by no means leave the guilty unpunished” (Nahum 1:3). Job’s frustration is real, but ultimate justice is certain. summary Job asks two piercing questions to expose the gap between human justice and divine justice. On earth, few dare challenge the powerful wrong-doer, and no court invariably holds him accountable. Yet Scripture assures us the silence of people does not equal the silence of God. Though confrontation and repayment may be postponed, they are never canceled; the Lord Himself will address every deed. |
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