Job 21
1 But Job answered and said,
Then Job replied,
2 Hear you, hear you my words, that I may not have this consolation from you.
“Listen to what I say, all [three] of you; that is the only thing that you can do that will comfort me.
3 Raise me, and I will speak; then you shall not laugh me to scorn.
Be patient with me, and allow me to speak. Then, after I am finished speaking, you can continue to make fun of me.
4 What! is my reproof of man? and why should I not be angry?
“It is certainly not [RHQ] people against whom I am complaining, [but God] And it is certainly [RHQ] right for me to be impatient!
5 Look upon me, and wonder, laying your hand upon your cheek.
Look at me! Does what you see not cause you to be appalled and to put your hands over your mouths [and say no more]?
6 For even when I remember, I am alarmed, and pains seize my flesh.
When I think about [what has happened to me], I am frightened and my entire body shakes.
7 Therefore do the ungodly live, and grow old even in wealth?
“[But let me ask this: ] ‘Why do wicked people continue to live, and become prosperous, and not die until they are very old?’
8 Their seed is according to [their] desire, and their children are in [their] sight.
They have their children around them, and they watch them while they [grow up and] start to live in their own houses, and they enjoy their grandchildren.
9 Their houses are prosperous, neither [have they] any where [cause for] fear, neither is there a scourge from the Lord upon them.
Wicked people live in their own houses without being afraid, and God does not punish [MTY] them.
10 Their cow does not cast her calf, and their [beast] with young is safe, and does not miscarry.
Their bulls always mate with the cows successfully, and the cows give birth to calves and never miscarry.
11 And they remain as an unfailing flock, and their children play before [them], taking up the lute and harp;
Wicked people send their young children outside [to play], and the children play [happily] like [SIM] lambs [in a pasture].
12 and they rejoice at the voice of a song.
Some children dance and sing, while others shake tambourines and play lyres, and they are happy when they hear people playing flutes.
Wicked people enjoy having good things all the time that they are alive, and they die quietly/peacefully and go down to the place of the dead. (Sheol h7585)
14 Yet [such a man] says to the Lord, Depart from me; I desire not to know your ways.
While they are alive, they say to God, ‘Do not bother us; we do not want to know how you want us to conduct our lives!
15 What is the Mighty One, that we should serve him? and what profit is there that we should approach him?
Why do you, Almighty God, think that we should serve you? (What advantage do we get if we pray to you?/It is useless for us to pray to you.) [RHQ]’
16 For their good things were in [their] hands, but he regards not the works of the ungodly.
Think about it: Wicked people think that it is because of what they have done that they have become prosperous, but I do not understand why they think like that.
17 Nevertheless, the lamp of the ungodly also shall be put out, and destruction shall come upon them, and pangs of vengeance shall seize them.
(“How often does it happen that wicked people die [MET] before they are old?/Very seldom do wicked people die [MET] before they are old.) [RHQ] (Do they ever experience disasters?/They seldom experience disasters.) [RHQ] (Does God ever punish them because of being very angry with them?/God never punishes them because of being very angry with them.) [RHQ]
18 And they shall be as chaff before the wind, or as dust which the storm has taken up.
[He does not blow] them away like wind blows away straw; they are never carried off by a whirlwind.
19 Let his substance fail [to supply] his children: [God] shall recompense him, and he shall know it.
You say, ‘When people have committed sins, God waits and punishes their children because of those sins;’ but [I say that] God should punish those who sin, [not their children, ] in order that the sinners will know [that it is because of their own sins that they are being punished].
20 Let his eyes see his own destruction, and let him not be saved by the Lord.
I hope/wish that wicked people will experience themselves being destroyed, that they will experience being punished by an angry Almighty God.
21 For his desire is in his house with him, and the number of his months has been suddenly cut off.
After wicked people are dead, they are not at all concerned [RHQ] about what happens to their families [MTY].
22 Is it not the Lord who teaches understanding and knowledge? and does not he judge murders?
“Since God judges [everyone, ] even those that are in heaven, (who can teach God anything?/certainly no one can teach God anything.) [RHQ]
23 One shall die in his perfect strength, and wholly at ease and prosperous;
Some people die while they are very healthy, while they are peaceful, when they are not afraid of anything.
24 and his inwards are full of fat, and his marrow is diffused [throughout him].
Their bodies are fat; their bones are strong.
25 And another dies in bitterness of soul, not eating any good thing.
Other people die being very miserable; they have never experienced good things happening to them.
26 But they lie down in the earth together, and corruption covers them.
But both rich and poor people die and are buried, and maggots eat their bodies. [Everyone dies, so it is clear that dying is not always the punishment for being wicked].
27 So I know you, that you presumptuously attack me:
“Listen, I know what you [three] are thinking. I know the evil things that you plan to do to me.
28 so that you will say, Where is the house of the prince? and where is the covering of the tabernacles of the ungodly?
You say, ‘What happened to the tents in which wicked people were living? The houses of evil rulers have been destroyed!’
29 Ask those that go by the way, and do not disown their tokens.
But have you never inquired of people who travel much? Do you not believe their reports about what they have seen,
30 For the wicked hastens to the day of destruction: they shall be led away for the day of his vengeance.
that wicked people usually do not suffer at the time when there are great disasters; that wicked people are the ones who are rescued when God is angry [and punishes people] [MTY]?
31 Who will tell him his way to his face, whereas he has done [it]? who shall recompense him?
There is no one [RHQ] who accuses wicked people, and there is no one who (pays them back/gives them the punishment that they deserve) for all the evil things that they have done.
32 And he has been led away to the tombs, and he has watched over the heaps.
The corpses of wicked people are carried to their graves, and people are put there to guard those graves.
33 The stones of the valley have been sweet to him, and every man shall depart after him, and [there are] innumerable [ones] before him.
A huge number [HYP] of people go to the grave site. Some go in front of the procession and some come behind. And the clods of dirt thrown on the graves of those wicked people who have died are like a nice blanket.
34 How then do you comfort me in vain? whereas I have no rest from your molestation.
“So how can you console me by talking nonsense? Every reply that you make is full of lies!”
