Job 21 · Verse 19

Job 21:19

God layeth up his iniquity for his children: he rewardeth him, and he shall know it.
Job 21:19, King James Version

Job 21:19 in other translations

BSBIt is said that God lays up one’s punishment for his children. Let God repay the man himself, so he will know it.
WEBYou say, ‘God lays up his iniquity for his children.’ Let him recompense it to himself, that he may know it.
ASVYe say, God layeth up his iniquity for his children. Let him recompense it unto himself, that he may know it:
YLTGod layeth up for his sons his sorrow, He giveth recompense unto him--and he knoweth.
DARBYGod layeth up the punishment of his iniquity for his children; he rewardeth him, and he shall know it:
BBEYou say, God keeps punishment stored up for his children. Let him send it on the man himself, so that he may have the punishment of it!
WebsterGod layeth up his iniquity for his children: he rewardeth him, and he shall know it.

What does Job 21:19 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
19. Equally questionable is the friends' assertion that if the godless himself is not punished, the children are (Job 18:19; 20:10); and that God rewardeth him here for his iniquity, and that he shall know it to his cost. So "know" (Ho 9:7).

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 19 God layeth up his iniquity for his children - This is according to the declaration of God, Exo 20:5 : "Visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me." This always supposes that the children, who are thus visited, have copied their parents' example; or that ill-gotten property is found in their hands, which has descended to them from their wicked fathers; and of this God, in his judgments, strips them. It is, however, very natural to suppose that children brought up without the fear of God will walk in the sight of their own eyes, and according to the imaginations of their own hearts. He rewardeth him, and he shall know it - He shall so visit his transgressions upon him, that he shall at last discern that it is God who hath done it. And thus they will find that there would have been profit in serving him, and safety in praying unto him. But this they have neglected, and now it is too late.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Job 21:17-26

Job had described the prosperity of wicked people; in these verses he opposes this to what his friends had maintained about their certain ruin in this life. He reconciles this to the holiness and justice of God. Even while they prosper thus, they are light and worthless, of no account with God, or with wise men. In the height of their pomp and power, there is but a step between them and ruin. Job refers the…

Read the full comment on Job 21:17-26 →

Job 21:19 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

אֱל֗וֹהַּ'e.Lo.ahGodH433
יִצְפֹּן\־yitz.pon-he stores upH6845
לְבָנָ֥יוle.va.Navfor children hisH1121
אוֹנ֑וֹ'o.Nowickedness hisH205
יְשַׁלֵּ֖םye.sha.Lemlet him repayH7999
אֵלָ֣יו'e.Lavto himH413
וְיֵדָֽע\׃ve.ye.Da'so he may knowH3045

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Job 21:19

  • Exodus 20:5

    Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;

  • Ezekiel 18:19-20

    Yet say ye, Why? doth not the son bear the iniquity of the father? When the son hath done that which is lawful and right, and hath kept all my statutes, and hath done them, he shall surely live. The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.

  • Jeremiah 31:29

    In those days they shall say no more, The fathers have eaten a sour grape, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.

  • Isaiah 53:4-6

    Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

  • Ezekiel 18:2

    What mean ye, that ye use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying, The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge?

  • Isaiah 14:21

    Prepare slaughter for his children for the iniquity of their fathers; that they do not rise, nor possess the land, nor fill the face of the world with cities.

  • Psalms 54:5

    He shall reward evil unto mine enemies: cut them off in thy truth.

  • 2 Corinthians 5:21

    For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

  • Matthew 23:31-35

    Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets. Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers. Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell? Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city: …

  • Ezekiel 18:14

    Now, lo, if he beget a son, that seeth all his father’s sins which he hath done, and considereth, and doeth not such like,

  • Deuteronomy 32:34

    Is not this laid up in store with me, and sealed up among my treasures?

  • 2 Timothy 4:14

    Alexander the coppersmith did me much evil: the Lord reward him according to his works:

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
layeth.
22:24; De 32:34; Mt 6:19,20; Ro 2:5
iniquity. that is, the punishment of his iniquity.
Ge 4:7; Isa 53:4-6; 2Co 5:21
for his.
Ex 20:5; Ps 109:9-31; Isa 14:21; Eze 18:14,19,20; Mt 23:31-35
he rewardeth.
De 32:41; 2Sa 3:39; Ps 54:5; Mt 16:27; 2Ti 4:14; Re 18:6
he shall.
Mal 3:18

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Job 21:18

    They are as stubble before the wind, and as chaff that the storm carrieth away.

  • Job 21:19

    God layeth up his iniquity for his children: he rewardeth him, and he shall know it.

  • Job 21:20

    His eyes shall see his destruction, and he shall drink of the wrath of the Almighty.

Read all of Job 21

Job 21:19 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Dios guardará para sus hijos su violencia; y le dará su pago, para que conozca.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		✝Dieu réserve à ses fils la punition de sa méchanceté: il la lui rend, et il le saura;
German
Elberfelder 1871		Gott spart, saget ihr, sein Unheil auf für seine Kinder. -Er vergelte ihm, daß er es fühle!
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		Deus servabit filiis illius dolorem patris, et cum reddiderit, tunc sciet.