Job 21
1 But Job answered and said,
Then Job answered:
2 Hear diligently my speech, and let this be your consolations.
“Listen carefully to my words; let this be your consolation to me.
3 Suffer me that I may speak; and after that I have spoken, mock on.
Bear with me while I speak; then, after I have spoken, you may go on mocking.
4 As for me, is my complaint to man? and if it were so, why should not my spirit be troubled?
Is my complaint against a man? Then why should I not be impatient?
5 Mark me, and be astonished, and lay your hand upon your mouth.
Look at me and be appalled; put your hand over your mouth.
6 Even when I remember I am afraid, and trembling takes hold on my flesh.
When I remember, terror takes hold, and my body trembles in horror.
7 Wherefore do the wicked live, become old, yea, are mighty in power?
Why do the wicked live on, growing old and increasing in power?
8 Their seed is established in their sight with them, and their offspring before their eyes.
Their descendants are established around them, and their offspring before their eyes.
9 Their houses are safe from fear, neither is the rod of God upon them.
Their homes are safe from fear; no rod of punishment from God is upon them.
10 Their bull genders, and fails not; their cow calves, and casts not her calf.
Their bulls breed without fail; their cows bear calves and do not miscarry.
11 They send forth their little ones like a flock, and their children dance.
They send forth their little ones like a flock; their children skip about,
12 They take the timbrel and harp, and rejoice at the sound of the organ.
singing to the tambourine and lyre and making merry at the sound of the flute.
They spend their days in prosperity and go down to Sheol in peace. (Sheol h7585)
14 Therefore they say unto God, Depart from us; for we desire not the knowledge of your ways.
Yet they say to God: ‘Leave us alone! For we have no desire to know Your ways.
15 What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? and what profit should we have, if we pray unto him?
Who is the Almighty, that we should serve Him, and what would we gain if we pray to Him?’
16 Lo, their good is not in their hand: the counsel of the wicked is far from me.
Still, their prosperity is not in their own hands, so I stay far from the counsel of the wicked.
17 How often is the candle of the wicked put out! and how often comes their destruction upon them! God distributes sorrows in his anger.
How often is the lamp of the wicked put out? Does disaster come upon them? Does God, in His anger, apportion destruction?
18 They are as stubble before the wind, and as chaff that the storm carries away.
Are they like straw before the wind, like chaff swept away by a storm?
19 God lays up his iniquity for his children: he rewards him, and he shall know it.
It is said that God lays up one’s punishment for his children. Let God repay the man himself, so he will know it.
20 His eyes shall see his destruction, and he shall drink of the wrath of the Almighty.
Let his eyes see his own destruction; let him drink for himself the wrath of the Almighty.
21 For what pleasure has he in his house after him, when the number of his months is cut off in the midst?
For what does he care about his household after him, when the number of his months has run out?
22 Shall any teach God knowledge? seeing he judges those that are high.
Can anyone teach knowledge to God, since He judges those on high?
23 One dies in his full strength, being wholly at ease and quiet.
One man dies full of vigor, completely secure and at ease.
24 His breasts are full of milk, and his bones are moistened with marrow.
His body is well nourished, and his bones are rich with marrow.
25 And another dies in the bitterness of his soul, and never eats with pleasure.
Yet another man dies in the bitterness of his soul, having never tasted prosperity.
26 They shall lie down alike in the dust, and the worms shall cover them.
But together they lie down in the dust, and worms cover them both.
27 Behold, I know your thoughts, and the devices which all of you wrongfully imagine against me.
Behold, I know your thoughts full well, the schemes by which you would wrong me.
28 For all of you say, Where is the house of the prince? and where are the dwelling places of the wicked?
For you say, ‘Where now is the nobleman’s house, and where are the tents in which the wicked dwell?’
29 Have all of you not asked them that go by the way? and do all of you not know their tokens,
Have you never asked those who travel the roads? Do you not accept their reports?
30 That the wicked is reserved to the day of destruction? they shall be brought forth to the day of wrath.
Indeed, the evil man is spared from the day of calamity, delivered from the day of wrath.
31 Who shall declare his way to his face? and who shall repay him what he has done?
Who denounces his behavior to his face? Who repays him for what he has done?
32 Yet shall he be brought to the grave, and shall remain in the tomb.
He is carried to the grave, and watch is kept over his tomb.
33 The clods of the valley shall be sweet unto him, and every man shall draw after him, as there are innumerable before him.
The clods of the valley are sweet to him; everyone follows behind him, and those before him are without number.
34 How then comfort all of you me in vain, seeing in your answers there remains falsehood?
So how can you comfort me with empty words? For your answers remain full of falsehood.”
