JobChapter 21

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¹Then Job answered: ²"Listen closely to my words.
Let that be the comfort you give me. ³Put up with me while I speak.
After I have spoken, you can go on mocking. ⁴Is my complaint against a man?
Then why shouldn't I be impatient? ⁵Look at me and be shocked.
Put your hand over your mouth. ⁶When I think about it, terror grabs me.
My body shakes with horror. ⁷Why do the wicked go on living?
Why do they grow old and become more powerful? ⁸Their children are settled around them.
They see their families grow before their eyes. ⁹Their homes are safe and free from fear.
God's rod of punishment isn't on them. ¹⁰Their bulls always breed.
Their cows have calves and don't lose them. ¹¹They send out their little ones like a flock.
Their children skip and dance around. ¹²They sing to the tambourine and lyre.
They have fun at the sound of the flute. ¹³They spend their days doing well.
Then they go down to the grave in peace.a ¹⁴Yet they say to God, 'Leave us alone!
We don't want to know your ways. ¹⁵Who is the Almighty, that we should serve him?
What would we gain if we prayed to him?' ¹⁶Still, their success is not in their own hands.
So I stay far away from the advice of the wicked. ¹⁷How often is the lamp of the wicked put out?
How often does disaster come on them?
Does God in his anger hand out ruin to them? ¹⁸Are they like straw blown by the wind?
Are they like chaff swept away by a storm? ¹⁹People say God saves up a man's punishment for his children.
But let God pay back the man himself,
so that he will know it. ²⁰Let his own eyes see his ruin.
Let him drink the anger of the Almighty himself. ²¹What does he care about his family after he is gone,
when his months have run out? ²²Can anyone teach God anything,
since he judges those who are on high? ²³One man dies full of strength.
He is completely safe and at ease. ²⁴His body is well fed.
His bones are full of marrow. ²⁵Another man dies with a bitter soul.
He never once enjoyed good times. ²⁶But they both lie down together in the dust.
Worms cover them both. ²⁷Look, I know just what you are thinking.
I know the plans you have to wrong me. ²⁸You say, 'Where is the great man's house now?
Where are the tents where the wicked lived?' ²⁹Have you never asked people who travel the roads?
Don't you believe what they tell you? ³⁰The evil man is spared on the day of disaster.
He is rescued on the day of anger. ³¹Who speaks against what he does to his face?
Who pays him back for what he has done? ³²He is carried to the grave.
People keep watch over his tomb. ³³The dirt of the valley is sweet to him.
Everyone follows behind him.
Those who went before him can't be counted. ³⁴So how can you comfort me with empty words?
Your answers are still full of lies."