Job 21
1 Then Job answered and said,
Then Job answered:
2 “Listen carefully to my words, and let this be the comfort you offer to me.
“Listen carefully to my words; let this be your consolation to me.
3 Put up with me, and I also will speak; after 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 a person? Why should I not be impatient?
Is my complaint against a man? Then why should I not be impatient?
5 Look at me and be astonished, and lay your hand upon your mouth.
Look at me and be appalled; put your hand over your mouth.
6 When I think about my sufferings, I am terrified, and trembling seizes my body.
When I remember, terror takes hold, and my body trembles in horror.
7 Why do wicked people continue to live, become old, and grow mighty in power?
Why do the wicked live on, growing old and increasing in power?
8 Their descendants are established with them in their sight, and their offspring are established 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 on them.
Their homes are safe from fear; no rod of punishment from God is upon them.
10 Their bull breeds; it does not fail to do so; their cow gives birth and does not lose her calf prematurely.
Their bulls breed without fail; their cows bear calves and do not miscarry.
11 They send out 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 sing to the tambourine and harp and rejoice with the music of the flute.
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 They say to God, 'Depart from us for we do not wish any 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 worship him? What advantage would we get if we prayed to him?'
Who is the Almighty, that we should serve Him, and what would we gain if we pray to Him?’
16 See, is not their prosperity in their own hands? I have nothing to do with the advice of wicked people.
Still, their prosperity is not in their own hands, so I stay far from the counsel of the wicked.
17 How often is it that the lamp of wicked people is put out, or that their calamity comes upon them? How often does it happen that God distributes sorrows to them 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 How often is it that they become like stubble before the wind or like chaff that the storm carries away?
Are they like straw before the wind, like chaff swept away by a storm?
19 You say, 'God lays up one's guilt for his children to pay.' Let him pay it himself, so that he might know his guilt.
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 Let his eyes see his own destruction, and let him 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 does he care about his family after him when the number of his months is cut off?
For what does he care about his household after him, when the number of his months has run out?
22 Can anyone teach God knowledge since he judges even those who are high?
Can anyone teach knowledge to God, since He judges those on high?
23 One man dies in his full strength, being completely quiet and at ease.
One man dies full of vigor, completely secure and at ease.
24 His body is full of milk, and the marrow of his bones is moist.
His body is well nourished, and his bones are rich with marrow.
25 Another man dies in bitterness of soul, one who has never experienced anything good.
Yet another man dies in the bitterness of his soul, having never tasted prosperity.
26 They lie down alike in the dust; the worms cover them both.
But together they lie down in the dust, and worms cover them both.
27 See, I know your thoughts, and the ways in which you wish to wrong me.
Behold, I know your thoughts full well, the schemes by which you would wrong me.
28 For you say, 'Where now is the house of the prince? Where is the tent in which the wicked man once lived?'
For you say, ‘Where now is the nobleman’s house, and where are the tents in which the wicked dwell?’
29 Have you never asked traveling people? Do you not know the evidence they can tell,
Have you never asked those who travel the roads? Do you not accept their reports?
30 that the wicked man is kept from the day of calamity, and that he is led away from the day of wrath?
Indeed, the evil man is spared from the day of calamity, delivered from the day of wrath.
31 Who will condemn the wicked man's way to his face? Who will repay him for what he has done?
Who denounces his behavior to his face? Who repays him for what he has done?
32 Yet he will be borne to the grave; men will keep watch over his tomb.
He is carried to the grave, and watch is kept over his tomb.
33 The clods of the valley will be sweet to him; all people will follow after him, as there were innumerable people 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 do you comfort me with nonsense, since in your answers there is nothing but falsehood?”
So how can you comfort me with empty words? For your answers remain full of falsehood.”
