Home Master Index
←Prev   Job 21 as rendered by/in  Next→ 


21:1  Then Job answered:
21:2  Listen carefully to my remarks and let that comfort you.
21:3  Bear with me so I can speak, I myself; and after my reply you can mock.
21:4  Are my complaints against another human; why is my patience short?
21:5  Turn to me and be appalled; lay your hand over your mouth.
21:6  If I recall it, I’m scared; shaking seizes my body.
21:7  Why do the wicked live, grow old, and even become strong?
21:8  Their children are always with them, their offspring in their sight,
21:9  their houses safe from dread, God’s punishing stick not upon them.
21:10  Their bull always breeds successfully; their cows give birth and never miscarry.
21:11  They send forth their little ones like sheep; their infants bounce around.
21:12  They raise drum and lyre, rejoice at the sound of a flute.
21:13  They spend their days contentedly, go down to the grave peacefully.
21:14  They say to God, “Turn away from us; we take no pleasure in knowing your ways;
21:15  who is the Almighty that we should serve him, and what can we gain if we meet him?”
21:16  Look, isn’t their well-being the work of their own hands? A sinner’s logic is beyond me.
21:17  How often does the lamp of the wicked flicker or disaster come upon them, with its fury inflicting pain on them?
21:18  Let them be like straw in the wind, like dry grass stolen by a storm.
21:19  God stores up his punishment for his children. Let him destroy them so they know.
21:20  Let their own eyes witness their doom. Let them drink from the Almighty’s wrath.
21:21  What do they care about their household after they die, when their numbered days are cut off?
21:22  Will they instruct God— he who judges the most powerful?
21:23  Someone dies in wonderful health, completely comfortable and well,
21:24  their buckets full of milk, their bones marrow-filled and sound.
21:25  Another dies in bitter spirit, never having tasted the good things.
21:26  They lie together in the dust and worms cover them.
21:27  Look, I know your thoughts; your plans harm me.
21:28  You say, “Where is the official’s house? Where is the tent, the dwelling of the wicked?”
21:29  Haven’t you asked travelers or paid attention to their reports?
21:30  On the day of disaster the wicked are spared; on the day of fury they are rescued.
21:31  Who can criticize their behavior to their faces; they act, and who can avenge them?
21:32  They are carried to their graves; someone keeps guard over their tombs.
21:33  The soil near the desert streambed is sweet to them; everyone marches after them— those before them, beyond counting.
21:34  How empty is your comfort to me; only deceit remains in your responses.