“How often ¹  is the lamp of the wicked extinguished? How often does their ²  misfortune come upon them? How often does God apportion pain ³  to them ⁴  in his anger?

biblegateway Job 21:17

"How often is the lamp of the wicked put out, Or does their calamity fall on them? Does God apportion destruction in His anger?

How often is the lamp of the wicked put out? Does disaster come on them? Does He apportion destruction in His anger?

"How often is the lamp of the wicked snuffed out? How often does disaster happen to them? How often does an angry God give them pain?

biblegateway Job 21:17

"Yet how often is the lamp of the wicked snuffed out? How often does calamity come upon them, the fate God allots in his anger?

"How often is it that the lamp of the wicked is put out? That their calamity comes upon them? That God distributes pains in his anger?

bibleoremus Job 21:17

"How often is the lamp of the wicked put out? How often does calamity come upon them? How often does God distribute pains in his anger?

How often is the lamp of the wicked snuffed out, how often does ruin come upon them? How often does God in his anger deal out suffering?

biblegateway Job 21:17

"How often is the lamp of the wicked put out? How often does their destruction come upon them, The sorrows God distributes in His anger?

How oft is the candle of the wicked put out! and [how oft] cometh their destruction upon them! [God] distributeth sorrows in his anger.

biblegateway Job 21:17

“How often ¹  is the lamp of the wicked extinguished? How often does their ²  misfortune come upon them? How often does God apportion pain ³  to them ⁴  in his anger?

¹ tn The interrogative “How often” occurs only with the first colon; it is supplied for smoother reading in the next two.

² tn The pronominal suffix is objective; it re-enforces the object of the preposition, “upon them.” The verb in the clause is בּוֹא (bo’) followed by עַל (’al), “come upon [or against],” may be interpreted as meaning attack or strike.

³ tn חֲבָלִים (khavalim) can mean “ropes” or “cords,” but that would not go with the verb “apportion” in this line. The meaning of “pangs (as in “birth-pangs”) seems to fit best here. The wider meaning would be “physical agony.”

⁴ tn The phrase “to them” is understood and thus is supplied in the translation for clarification.