Hiob 21,13 | New International Reader’s Version

Job’s reply

1 Job replied, 2 ‘Listen carefully to what I’m saying. Let that be the comfort you people give me. 3 Put 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? 5 Look at me and be shocked. Put your hand over your mouth and stop talking! 6 When I think about these things, I’m terrified. My whole body trembles. 7 Why do sinful people keep on living? The older they grow, the richer they get. 8 They see their children grow up around them. They watch their family grow larger. 9 Their homes are safe. They don’t have to be afraid. God isn’t punishing them. 10 Every time their bulls mate, their cows become pregnant. And the calves don’t die before they are born. 11 Sinful people send their children out like a flock of lambs. Their little ones dance around. 12 They sing to the music of tambourines and lyres. They have a good time while flutes are being played. 13 Those who are evil spend their years living well. They go down to their graves in peace. 14 But they say to God, “Leave us alone! We don’t want to know how you want us to live. 15 Who is the Mighty One? Why should we serve him? What would we get if we prayed to him?” 16 But 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? 18 How often are they like straw blowing in the wind? How often are they like tumbleweeds swept away by a storm? 19 People 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. 20 Let their own eyes see how they are destroyed. Let them drink the wine of the Mighty One’s anger. 21 What 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. 23 Some people die while they are still very strong. They are completely secure. They have an easy life. 24 They are well fed. Their bodies are healthy. 25 Others die while their spirits are bitter. They’ve never enjoyed anything good. 26 Side 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. 28 You are saying to yourselves, “Where is the great man’s house now? Where are the tents where his evil family lived?” 29 Haven’t you ever asked questions of those who travel? Haven’t you paid any attention to their stories? 30 They’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. 31 Who speaks against them for the way they act? Who pays them back for what they’ve done? 32 Their bodies will be carried to their graves. Guards will watch over their tombs. 33 The 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!’

English Standard Version

Job Replies: The Wicked Do Prosper

1 Then Job answered and said: 2 “Keep listening to my words, and let this be your comfort. 3 Bear with me, and I will speak, and after I have spoken, mock on. 4 As for me, is my complaint against man? Why should I not be impatient? 5 Look at me and be appalled, and lay your hand over your mouth. 6 When I remember, I am dismayed, and shuddering seizes my flesh. 7 Why do the wicked live, reach old age, and grow mighty in power? 8 Their offspring are established in their presence, and their descendants before their eyes. 9 Their houses are safe from fear, and no rod of God is upon them. 10 Their bull breeds without fail; their cow calves and does not miscarry. 11 They send out their little boys like a flock, and their children dance. 12 They sing to the tambourine and the lyre and rejoice to the sound of the pipe. 13 They spend their days in prosperity, and in peace they go down to Sheol. 14 They say to God, ‘Depart from us! We do not desire the knowledge of your ways. 15 What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? And what profit do we get if we pray to him?’ 16 Behold, is not their prosperity in their hand? The counsel of the wicked is far from me. 17 “How often is it that the lamp of the wicked is put out? That their calamity comes upon them? That God* distributes pains in his anger? 18 That they are like straw before the wind, and like chaff that the storm carries away? 19 You say, ‘God stores up their iniquity for their children.’ Let him pay it out to them, that they may know it. 20 Let their own eyes see their destruction, and let them drink of the wrath of the Almighty. 21 For what do they care for their houses after them, when the number of their months is cut off? 22 Will any teach God knowledge, seeing that he judges those who are on high? 23 One dies in his full vigor, being wholly at ease and secure, 24 his pails* full of milk and the marrow of his bones moist. 25 Another dies in bitterness of soul, never having tasted of prosperity. 26 They lie down alike in the dust, and the worms cover them. 27 “Behold, I know your thoughts and your schemes to wrong me. 28 For you say, ‘Where is the house of the prince? Where is the tent in which the wicked lived?’ 29 Have you not asked those who travel the roads, and do you not accept their testimony 30 that the evil man is spared in the day of calamity, that he is rescued in the day of wrath? 31 Who declares his way to his face, and who repays him for what he has done? 32 When he is carried to the grave, watch is kept over his tomb. 33 The clods of the valley are sweet to him; all mankind follows after him, and those who go before him are innumerable. 34 How then will you comfort me with empty nothings? There is nothing left of your answers but falsehood.”

Hiob 21,13 | New International Reader’s Version English Standard Version

Job’s reply

Job Replies: The Wicked Do Prosper