They are as stubble before the wind, and as chaff that the storm carrieth away.
Job 21:18 belongs to Job's answer and argument about the wicked and whether they are actually swept away like stubble and chaff. It is part of that answer showing that the wicked prosper here in this present life and that their punishment is future. The verse compares the wicked to stubble before the wind and to chaff that the storm carries away, portraying their end as removal and perishing and as sudden destruction.
The image means the wicked are readily destroyed, not preserved forever in suffering. It supports that they are consumed in unquenchable fire, which cannot be stopped before it destroys them but does not burn eternally. Job's friends' statements were often true but were wrongly applied to Job, and suffering does not prove God's displeasure.
Job 21:18 belongs to Job's answer and argument about the wicked and whether they are actually swept away like stubble and chaff. It is part of that answer showing that the wicked prosper here in this present life and that their punishment is future. The verse compares the wicked to stubble before the wind and to chaff that the storm carries away, portraying their end as removal and perishing and as sudden destruction.
The image means the wicked are readily destroyed, not preserved forever in suffering. It supports that they are consumed in unquenchable fire, which cannot be stopped before it destroys them but does not burn eternally. Job's friends' statements were often true but were wrongly applied to Job, and suffering does not prove God's displeasure.