1Job replied,2‘Listen carefully to what I’m saying. Let that be the comfort you people give me.3Put up with me while I speak. After I’ve spoken, you can make fun of me!4‘I’m not arguing with mere human beings. So why shouldn’t I be angry and uneasy?5Look at me and be shocked. Put your hand over your mouth and stop talking!6When I think about these things, I’m terrified. My whole body trembles.7Why do sinful people keep on living? The older they grow, the richer they get.8They see their children grow up around them. They watch their family grow larger.9Their homes are safe. They don’t have to be afraid. God isn’t punishing them.10Every time their bulls mate, their cows become pregnant. And the calves don’t die before they are born.11Sinful people send their children out like a flock of lambs. Their little ones dance around.12They sing to the music of tambourines and lyres. They have a good time while flutes are being played.13Those who are evil spend their years living well. They go down to their graves in peace.14But they say to God, “Leave us alone! We don’t want to know how you want us to live.15Who is the Mighty One? Why should we serve him? What would we get if we prayed to him?”16But they aren’t in control of their own success. So I don’t pay any attention to their plans.17‘How often are their lamps blown out? How often does trouble come on them? How often does God punish them when he’s angry?18How often are they like straw blowing in the wind? How often are they like tumbleweeds swept away by a storm?19People say, “God stores up the punishment of evil people for their children.” But let God punish the evil people themselves. Then they’ll learn a lesson from it.20Let their own eyes see how they are destroyed. Let them drink the wine of the Mighty One’s anger.21What do they care about the families they leave behind? What do they care about them when their lives come to an end?22‘Can anyone teach God anything? After all, he judges even the angels in heaven.23Some people die while they are still very strong. They are completely secure. They have an easy life.24They are well fed. Their bodies are healthy.25Others die while their spirits are bitter. They’ve never enjoyed anything good.26Side by side they lie in the dust of death. The worms in their graves cover all of them.27‘I know exactly what you people are thinking. I know you are planning to do bad things to me.28You are saying to yourselves, “Where is the great man’s house now? Where are the tents where his evil family lived?”29Haven’t you ever asked questions of those who travel? Haven’t you paid any attention to their stories?30They’ll tell you that sinful people are spared from the day of trouble. They’ll say that those people are saved from the day when God will judge.31Who speaks against them for the way they act? Who pays them back for what they’ve done?32Their bodies will be carried to their graves. Guards will watch over their tombs.33The soil in the valley will be pleasant to those who have died. Many people will walk along behind their bodies. Many others will walk in front of them.34‘So how can you comfort me with your speeches? They don’t make any sense at all. Your answers are nothing but lies!’
Job 21
English Standard Version
Job Replies: The Wicked Do Prosper
1Then Job answered and said:2“Keep listening to my words, and let this be your comfort. (Job 13:17)3Bear with me, and I will speak, and after I have spoken, mock on. (Job 16:10; Job 16:20; Job 17:2)4As for me, is my complaint against man? Why should I not be impatient? (Job 10:1; Job 23:2)5Look at me and be appalled, and lay your hand over your mouth. (Jud 18:19; Job 29:9; Job 40:4)6When I remember, I am dismayed, and shuddering seizes my flesh.7Why do the wicked live, reach old age, and grow mighty in power? (Job 12:6; Ps 17:14; Ps 37:1; Ps 37:35; Ps 73:3; Ps 73:5; Ps 92:7; Ec 8:14; Jer 12:1; Hab 1:13; Hab 1:16; Mal 3:14)8Their offspring are established in their presence, and their descendants before their eyes. (Job 5:25)9Their houses are safe from fear, and no rod of God is upon them. (Job 5:24; Job 9:34)10Their bull breeds without fail; their cow calves and does not miscarry. (Ex 23:26)11They send out their little boys like a flock, and their children dance. (Ps 17:14)12They sing to the tambourine and the lyre and rejoice to the sound of the pipe. (Ge 4:21; Ex 15:20; Job 30:31)13They spend their days in prosperity, and in peace they go down to Sheol. (Job 7:9; Job 14:13; Job 17:13; Job 24:19; Job 34:20; Job 36:11; Ps 16:10)14They say to God, ‘Depart from us! We do not desire the knowledge of your ways. (Job 22:17)15What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? And what profit do we get if we pray to him?’ (Ex 5:2; Job 34:9)16Behold, is not their prosperity in their hand? The counsel of the wicked is far from me. (Job 22:18; Ps 1:1)17“How often is it that the lamp of the wicked is put out? That their calamity comes upon them? That God[1] distributes pains in his anger? (Job 18:5)18That they are like straw before the wind, and like chaff that the storm carries away? (Job 13:25; Ps 1:4; Ps 35:5; Ps 83:13; Isa 17:13; Isa 29:5)19You say, ‘God stores up their iniquity for their children.’ Let him pay it out to them, that they may know it. (Ex 20:5; Job 15:20; Isa 9:9; Eze 25:14; Ho 9:7)20Let their own eyes see their destruction, and let them drink of the wrath of the Almighty. (Ps 60:3; Ps 75:8; Isa 51:17; Isa 51:22; Jer 25:15; Ob 1:16; Re 14:10)21For what do they care for their houses after them, when the number of their months is cut off? (Job 14:5)22Will any teach God knowledge, seeing that he judges those who are on high? (Job 4:18; Job 15:15; Isa 40:14; Ro 11:34; 1Co 2:16)23One dies in his full vigor, being wholly at ease and secure,24his pails[2] full of milk and the marrow of his bones moist. (Pr 3:8; Isa 58:11; Isa 66:14)25Another dies in bitterness of soul, never having tasted of prosperity. (Job 7:11)26They lie down alike in the dust, and the worms cover them. (Job 20:11; Ec 9:2; Isa 14:11)27“Behold, I know your thoughts and your schemes to wrong me.28For you say, ‘Where is the house of the prince? Where is the tent in which the wicked lived?’ (Job 8:22; Job 15:34; Job 20:6)29Have you not asked those who travel the roads, and do you not accept their testimony30that the evil man is spared in the day of calamity, that he is rescued in the day of wrath? (Pr 16:4; 2Pe 2:9)31Who declares his way to his face, and who repays him for what he has done? (De 7:10; Ho 5:5; Ga 2:11)32When he is carried to the grave, watch is kept over his tomb. (Job 10:19)33The clods of the valley are sweet to him; all mankind follows after him, and those who go before him are innumerable. (Job 30:23; Job 38:38; Heb 9:27)34How then will you comfort me with empty nothings? There is nothing left of your answers but falsehood.”