Job 21

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¹Job replied,

²“Please listen carefully to what I say—that would be one comfort you could give me.

³Bear with me; let me speak. After I've spoken you can resume mocking me.

⁴Am I complaining against people? Of course not. Why shouldn't I be impatient?

⁵Just take a look at me. Aren't you appalled? Cover your mouth with your hand in shock!

⁶Every time I think of what's happened to me I am horrified and I shake all over with fear.

⁷Why do the wicked continue to live, to grow old and increasingly powerful?

⁸Their children are with them; they watch their grandchildren grow up.

⁹They live in their homes in safety—they are not afraid. God does not use his rod to beat them.

¹⁰Their bulls always breed successfully; their cows give birth to calves and do not miscarry.

¹¹They send out their little ones like lambs to play; their children dance around.

¹²They sing accompanied by the tambourine and lyre; they celebrate with the music of the flute.

¹³They live out their lives contentedly, and go down to Sheol in peace.

¹⁴Yet they tell God, ‘Get lost! We don't want anything to do with you.

¹⁵Who does the Almighty think he is for us to serve him as slaves? What benefit is there for us if we pray to him?’

¹⁶Such people believe they make their own fortune, but I don't accept their way of thinking.

¹⁷How often is the lamp of the wicked snuffed out? How often does disaster come upon them? How often does God punish the wicked in his anger?

¹⁸Are they blown along like straw in the wind? Does a tornado come in and carry them away?

¹⁹Some say, ‘God saves up people's punishment for their children.’ But I say, ‘God should punish those people themselves so that they can learn from it.’

²⁰Let them see their destruction themselves, and drink deeply from God's anger.

²¹For they don't care what happens to their families once they're dead.

²²Can anyone teach God anything he doesn't already know, since he is the one who judges even heavenly beings?

²³One person dies in good health, totally comfortable and secure.

²⁴Their body is fat from eating well; their bones still strong.

²⁵Another dies after a miserable life without every experiencing happiness.

²⁶Yet they are both buried in the same dust; they are treated alike in death, eaten by maggots.

²⁷Look, I know what you're thinking, and your schemes to do me wrong.

²⁸You may ask me, ‘Where is the home of the great man? Where is the place where the wicked live?’

²⁹Haven't you asked people who travel? Don't you pay attention to what they tell you?

³⁰Wicked people are spared in times of disaster; they are rescued from the day of judgment.

³¹Who confronts them with their actions? Who pays them back for what they have done?

³²When they eventually die and are carried to the graveyard, their tomb is guarded. The earth of the grave softly covers them.

³³Everyone attends their funeral service; a huge procession of people comes to pay their last respects.

³⁴Why do you try to comfort me with worthless nonsense? Your answers are just a pack of lies!”