Job 21
1 Then Job replied,
Then responded 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 ye patiently my words, and let this be your consolation:
3 Be patient with me, and allow me to speak. Then, after I am finished speaking, you can continue to make fun of me.
Suffer me, that, I, may speak, and, after I have spoken, thou canst 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!
Did, I, unto man, make my complaint? Wherefore, then, 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 round to me, and be astonished, and lay hand on mouth!
6 When I think about [what has happened to me], I am frightened and my entire body shakes.
When I call to mind, then am I dismayed, and there seizeth my flesh a shuddering: —
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, lawless men, live, advance in years, even wax mighty 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 established in their sight, along with them, yea their offspring, 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 dread, neither is, the rod of GOD, upon them;
10 Their bulls always mate with the cows successfully, and the cows give birth to calves and never miscarry.
His bull, covereth, and causeth not aversion, His cow safely 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—like a flock—their young ones, and, their children, skip about for 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 rejoice aloud as [with] timbrel and lyre, and make merry to 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 complete, in prosperity, their days, and, in a moment to hades, they sink down. (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!
Yet they said unto GOD, Depart from us, and, In the knowledge of thy ways, find we no pleasure.
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? Or what shall we profit, that we should urge him?
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 own hand, is their welfare, The counsel of lawless men, is 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 oft, the lamp of the lawless, goeth out, and their calamity, cometh upon them, Sorrows, apportioneth he in his anger;
18 [He does not blow] them away like wind blows away straw; they are never carried off by a whirlwind.
They become as straw before the wind, and as chaff, which the storm 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].
Shall, GOD, reserve, for his children, his sorrow? Let him recompense him so that he may know it;
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, shall see his misfortune, and, the wrath of the Almighty, shall he drink.
21 After wicked people are dead, they are not at all concerned [RHQ] about what happens to their families [MTY].
For what shall be his pleasure in his house after him, when, the number of his months, is cut in twain?
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 it, to GOD, one can teach knowledge, seeing that, he, shall judge, them who are on high?
23 Some people die while they are very healthy, while they are peaceful, when they are not afraid of anything.
This, man dieth, in the very perfection of his prosperity, wholly tranquil and secure;
24 Their bodies are fat; their bones are strong.
His veins, are filled with nourishment, and, the marrow of his bones, is fresh;
25 Other people die being very miserable; they have never experienced good things happening to them.
Whereas, this other man, dieth, in bitterness of soul, and hath never tasted good fortune:
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].
Together, in the dust, they lie down, and, the worm, spreadeth a covering over them.
27 “Listen, I know what you [three] are thinking. I know the evil things that you plan to do to me.
Lo! I know your plans, and the devices, wherewith ye would do me violence!
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 the dwelling-tent of the lawless?
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 passers-by in the way? And, their signs, can ye not recognise?
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, to the day of calamity, is the wicked reserved, to the day of indignant visitation, are they led.
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.
Who can declare—to his face—his way? And, what, he, hath done, who shall recompense to him?
32 The corpses of wicked people are carried to their graves, and people are put there to guard those graves.
Yet, he, to the graves, is borne, and, over the tomb, one keepeth watch;
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.
Pleasant to him are the mounds of the torrent-bed, —and, after him, doth every man march, as, before him, there were without number.
34 “So how can you console me by talking nonsense? Every reply that you make is full of lies!”
How then should ye comfort me with vanity, since, as for your replies, there lurketh, [in them] treachery?
