Verse Lens · Concise explanation
Job 21:16 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 16. 16Lo, their good is not in their hand: the counsel of the wicked is far from me.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
Job 21:16 closes the thought unit with the words “Lo, their good is not in their hand: the counsel of the wicked is far from me.” Job directs attention through “Lo, their good is not in their hand” as Job Observes that Wicked People Often Prosper develops.
Job puts the friends' formula against what he has seen
This verse is one part of that explanation in Job 21:7–21:16. The complete section carries the connected meaning and how it should shape life.
Read It With
- Job 21:7–21:16
Read Job 21:16 with 21:7–21:16. Read alone, “Lo, their good is not in their hand: the counsel of the wicked is far from me” could lose its speaker, the question or claim it develops, and the unit's outcome. The complete movement establishes: Job describes wicked people living long, secure with children, livestock, music, wealth, and easy deaths while refusing God.
Why This Verse Appears Here
Job continues from Job 21:1–21:6: Job asks for attentive hearing as their comfort, permits mockery only after he speaks, and says the subject terrifies his own body. Job 21:7–21:16 now develops the next distinct movement: Job describes wicked people living long, secure with children, livestock, music, wealth, and easy deaths while refusing God. Within that relationship, Job 21:16 closes the thought unit through “Lo, their good is not in their hand: the counsel of the wicked is far from me.”
Read Job 21:7–16 together
Why these verses belong together: Job 21:7–21:16 follows the pinned KJV paragraphing and holds together one sustained speech movement: “Job Observes that Wicked People Often Prosper.” The next unit begins with a new stanza, question sequence, scene, speaker response, or rhetorical turn.
Verse 7. 7 Wherefore do the wicked live, become old, yea, are mighty in power?
Verse 8. 8 Their seed is established in their sight with them, and their offspring before their eyes.
Verse 9. 9 Their houses are safe from fear, neither is the rod of God upon them.
Verse 10. 10 Their bull gendereth, and faileth not; their cow calveth, and casteth not her calf.
Verse 11. 11 They send forth their little ones like a flock, and their children dance.
Verse 12. 12 They take the timbrel and harp, and rejoice at the sound of the organ.
Verse 13. 13 They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment go down to the grave.
Verse 14. 14 Therefore they say unto God, Depart from us; for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways.
Verse 15. 15 What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? and what profit should we have, if we pray unto him?
Verse 16. 16 Lo, their good is not in their hand: the counsel of the wicked is far from me.
What Remains True
Job describes wicked people living long, secure with children, livestock, music, wealth, and easy deaths while refusing God. Suffering or outward outcome is not evidence enough to diagnose guilt, hidden sin, divine rejection, or another person's moral standing. Job 21:16 carries that bounded truth through “Lo, their good is not in their hand: the counsel of the wicked is far from me.”
Continue in Context
Read the complete section for the connected explanation and how it should shape life. This verse is a doorway into that passage, not a saying that stands alone.
Read Job 21:7–21:16 — Job Observes that Wicked People Often ProsperSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? strong
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete thought-unit coverage.
Exact location: Job 21:7–21:16, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Job
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology checked at the exact unit without treating morphology as a complete apparatus or interpretation.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Job.xml, OSIS 21:7–21:16
Open the fixed Hebrew Job file ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible First Edition Notes: Job
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006; current official PDF
Supports: Verse-level controls for Job's difficult Hebrew, syntax, older KJV language, textual issues, speech boundaries, and alternatives in Job 21:7–21:16.
Exact location: Official NET Job PDF, exact translator, study, and textual notes attached to Job 21:7–21:16
Open the official NET Job PDF ↗