Job 21:1-34
21 Job said in reply:
2 “Listen carefully to what I say;Let this be the consolation you give me.
3 Bear with me while I speak;After I speak, you may then mock me.+
4 Is my complaint directed toward a man?
If it were, would I* not lose patience?
5 Look at me and stare in amazement;Put your hand over your mouth.
6 When I think about it, I am disturbed,And my whole body shudders.
7 Why do the wicked live on,+Grow old, and become wealthy?*+
8 Their children are always in their presence,And they get to see their descendants.
9 Their houses are secure, they are free from fear,+And God does not punish them with his rod.
10 Their bulls breed without failure;Their cows give birth and do not miscarry.
11 Their boys run outside just like a flock,And their children skip about.
12 They sing accompanied by tambourine and harpAnd rejoice at the sound of the flute.*+
13 They spend their days in contentmentAnd go down peacefully* to the Grave.*
14 But they say to the true God, ‘Leave us alone!
We have no desire to know your ways.+
15 Who is the Almighty, that we should serve him?+
What would we gain by being acquainted with him?’+
16 But I know that they do not control their own prosperity.+
The thinking* of the wicked is far from me.+
17 How often is the lamp of the wicked extinguished?+
How often does disaster come upon them?
How often does God deal out destruction to them in his anger?
18 Do they ever become like straw before the windAnd like chaff that a storm wind carries away?
19 God will store up a man’s punishment for his own sons.
But may God repay him so that he will know it.+
20 May his own eyes see his ruin,And may he be the one to drink from the rage of the Almighty.+
21 For what does he care about what happens to his house after himIf the number of his months is cut short?*+
22 Can anyone teach knowledge to God,*+When He is the one who judges even the highest ones?+
23 One man dies in his full vigor+When he is completely carefree and at ease,+
24 When his thighs are padded with fatAnd his bones are strong.*
25 But another man dies deeply distressed,*Never having tasted good things.
26 Together they will lie down in the dust,+And maggots will cover both of them.+
27 Look! I know exactly what you are thinkingAnd the schemes you devise to wrong me.*+
28 For you say, ‘Where is the house of the prominent man,And where is the tent in which the wicked one lived?’+
29 Have you not questioned travelers?
Do you not carefully study their observations,*
30 That an evil person is spared on the day of disasterAnd rescued on the day of fury?
31 Who will confront him about his way,And who will repay him for what he has done?
32 When he is carried to the graveyard,A vigil will be kept over his tomb.
33 The clods of earth of the valley* will be sweet to him,+And all mankind follows after him*+Like the countless number before him.
34 So why offer me meaningless comfort?+
There is nothing but deceit in your answers!”
Footnotes
^ Lit., “my spirit.”
^ Or “powerful.”
^ Or “pipe.”
^ Or “in a moment,” that is, a quick and painless death.
^ Or “advice; scheming.”
^ Or “cut in two.”
^ Or “teach God anything.”
^ Lit., “the marrow of his bones is moist.”
^ Or “with a bitter soul.”
^ Or possibly, “to act violently against me.”
^ Lit., “signs.”
^ Or “wadi.”
^ Lit., “And he will drag all mankind after him.”