Job 21
1 Then Job replied,
Then answered Job, and said,
2 “Listen to what I say, all [three] of you; that is the only thing that you can do that will comfort me.
Hear, O hear my speech, and let this be wherewith you give consolations.
3 Be patient with me, and allow me to speak. Then, after I am finished speaking, you can continue to make fun of me.
Bear with me that I may indeed speak: and after my speaking, then canst thou mock.
4 “It is certainly not [RHQ] people against whom I am complaining, [but God] And it is certainly [RHQ] right for me to be impatient!
As for me, —is against man my complaint? and if this be so, why should my spirit not be impatient?
5 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]?
Turn yourselves unto me, and be astounded, and lay your hand upon your mouth.
6 When I think about [what has happened to me], I am frightened and my entire body shakes.
Yea, when I think of it, I am terrified, and shuddering seizeth hold of my flesh.
7 “[But let me ask this: ] ‘Why do wicked people continue to live, and become prosperous, and not die until they are very old?’
Wherefore do the wicked live, become old, yea, grow strong in power?
8 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.
Their seed is firmly established in their presence with them. their offspring are before their eyes.
9 Wicked people live in their own houses without being afraid, and God does not punish [MTY] them.
Their houses are at peace without any dread, and no rod of God [cometh] over them.
10 Their bulls always mate with the cows successfully, and the cows give birth to calves and never miscarry.
The bull of each one gendereth, and disappointeth not: the cow of each one calveth, and casteth not her young.
11 Wicked people send their young children outside [to play], and the children play [happily] like [SIM] lambs [in a pasture].
They send forth their little ones like a flock, and their children skip about [with joy].
12 Some children dance and sing, while others shake tambourines and play lyres, and they are happy when they hear people playing flutes.
They sing to the timbrel and harp, and rejoice at the sound of the pipe.
13 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)
They wear out their days in happiness, and in a moment they go down to the nether world. (Sheol h7585)
14 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!
And yet they say unto God, “Depart from us; and the knowledge of thy ways we desire not.
15 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]’
What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? and what profit shall we have, if we entreat him urgently?”
16 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.
Lo, not in their hand doth their happiness rest! The counsel of the wicked be [still] far from me.
17 (“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]
How often is the lamp of the wicked quenched? and how often cometh over them their calamity? and doth [God] distribute their lot in his anger?
18 [He does not blow] them away like wind blows away straw; they are never carried off by a whirlwind.
Are they as straw before the wind, and as chaff which the stealeth away?
19 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].
Should God lay up for his children his wrong-doing? it were better that he reward him, that he might know it himself.
20 I hope/wish that wicked people will experience themselves being destroyed, that they will experience being punished by an angry Almighty God.
His own eyes ought to see his downfall, and from the wrath of the Almighty ought he to drink.
21 After wicked people are dead, they are not at all concerned [RHQ] about what happens to their families [MTY].
For what care hath he for his household after him, when the number of his months is all apportioned to him?
22 “Since God judges [everyone, ] even those that are in heaven, (who can teach God anything?/certainly no one can teach God anything.) [RHQ]
Is this fitting God, who teacheth knowledge? him who judgeth those that are highest?
23 Some people die while they are very healthy, while they are peaceful, when they are not afraid of anything.
That this one dieth in his full strength, being wholly at ease and quiet;
24 Their bodies are fat; their bones are strong.
His vessels being full of healthy fluid, and the marrow of his bones being well moistened:
25 Other people die being very miserable; they have never experienced good things happening to them.
While this other dieth with an embittered soul, and hath never partaken of any happiness;
26 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].
[And yet] together they must lie down in the dust, and the worms will cover them?
27 “Listen, I know what you [three] are thinking. I know the evil things that you plan to do to me.
Behold, I know your thoughts, and the opinions which ye wrongfully devise against me.
28 You say, ‘What happened to the tents in which wicked people were living? The houses of evil rulers have been destroyed!’
For ye say, Where is the house of the noble-minded? and where is the tent of the dwelling-places of the wicked?
29 But have you never inquired of people who travel much? Do you not believe their reports about what they have seen,
Have ye not asked the wayfarers? surely their token ye cannot disregard,
30 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]?
That the bad man is reserved for the day of calamity, [that the wicked] are carried forward to the day of wrath.
31 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.
[But] who will tell him to his face of his way? and who will repay him what he hath done?
32 The corpses of wicked people are carried to their graves, and people are put there to guard those graves.
Yea he will indeed be carried to the grave, and men will quickly think of his monument:
33 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.
Sweet are to him the clods of the valley; and after him succeedeth every man, as those that were before him are without number.
34 “So how can you console me by talking nonsense? Every reply that you make is full of lies!”
How then will ye comfort me with vanity? and of your answers there remaineth only deception.
