Verse Lens · Context pointer
Job 24:21 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 21. 21He evil entreateth the barren that beareth not: and doeth not good to the widow.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Role in This Section
Job 24:21 advances the thought unit with the words “He evil entreateth the barren that beareth not: and doeth not good to the widow.” Job states “He evil entreateth the barren that beareth not” as one poetic claim in A Disputed Closing Imagines or Questions the Wicked's End.
Read It With
- Job 24:18–24:25
Read Job 24:21 with 24:18–24:25. Read alone, “He evil entreateth the barren that beareth not: and doeth not good to the widow” could lose its speaker, the question or claim it develops, and the unit's outcome. The complete movement establishes: The difficult final lines speak of swift disappearance, Sheol, forgotten persons, broken trees, barren and widowed victims, and delayed but eventual cutting down.
Why It Needs Context
Job 24:21 depends on 24:18–24:25; isolating “He evil entreateth the barren that beareth not: and doeth not good to the widow” would detach a poetic premise, image, response, or transition from Job and “A Disputed Closing Imagines or Questions the Wicked's End.”
Read Job 24:18–25 together
Why these verses belong together: Job 24:18–24:25 follows the pinned KJV paragraphing and holds together one sustained speech movement: “A Disputed Closing Imagines or Questions the Wicked's End.” The next unit begins with a new stanza, question sequence, scene, speaker response, or rhetorical turn.
Verse 18. 18 He is swift as the waters; their portion is cursed in the earth: he beholdeth not the way of the vineyards.
Verse 19. 19 Drought and heat consume the snow waters: so doth the grave those which have sinned.
Verse 20. 20 The womb shall forget him; the worm shall feed sweetly on him; he shall be no more remembered; and wickedness shall be broken as a tree.
Verse 21. 21 He evil entreateth the barren that beareth not: and doeth not good to the widow.
Verse 22. 22 He draweth also the mighty with his power: he riseth up, and no man is sure of life.
Verse 23. 23 Though it be given him to be in safety, whereon he resteth; yet his eyes are upon their ways.
Verse 24. 24 They are exalted for a little while, but are gone and brought low; they are taken out of the way as all other, and cut off as the tops of the ears of corn.
Verse 25. 25 And if it be not so now, who will make me a liar, and make my speech nothing worth?
Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Job 24:18–24:25 — A Disputed Closing Imagines or Questions the Wicked's EndSources used for this context pointer
How certain is this explanation? probable
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 24:18–24:25, 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 24:18–24:25
Open the fixed Hebrew Job file ↗