‏ Job 21

Job Replies: The Wicked Do Prosper

1Then Job answered and said:

2 aKeep listening to my words,
and let this be your comfort.
3Bear with me, and I will speak,
and after I have spoken, bmock on.
4As for me, is my ccomplaint against man?
Why should I not be impatient?
5Look at me and be appalled,
and dlay your hand over your mouth.
6When I remember, I am dismayed,
and shuddering seizes my flesh.
7 eWhy do the wicked live,
reach old age, and grow mighty in power?
8Their foffspring are established in their presence,
and their descendants before their eyes.
9Their houses are gsafe from fear,
and hno rod of God is upon them.
10Their bull breeds without fail;
their cow calves and idoes not miscarry.
11They send out their jlittle boys like a flock,
and their children dance.
12They sing to kthe tambourine and lthe lyre
and rejoice to the sound of mthe pipe.
13They nspend their days in prosperity,
and in opeace they go down to pSheol.
14They say to God, qDepart from us!
We do not desire the knowledge of your ways.
15 rWhat is the Almighty, that we should serve him?
And what sprofit do we get if we pray to him?’
16Behold, is not their prosperity in their hand?
tThe counsel of the wicked is far from me.
17How often is it that uthe lamp of the wicked is put out?
That their calamity comes upon them?
That God
Hebrew he
distributes pains in his anger?
18That they are like wstraw before the wind,
and like xchaff that the storm carries away?
19You say, ‘God ystores up their iniquity for their zchildren.’
Let him pay it out to them, that they may aaknow it.
20Let their own eyes see their destruction,
and let them abdrink of the wrath of the Almighty.
21For what do they care for their houses after them,
when acthe number of their months is cut off?
22 adWill any teach God knowledge,
seeing that he aejudges those who are on high?
23One dies in his full vigor,
being wholly at ease and secure,
24his pails
The meaning of the Hebrew word is uncertain
full of milk
and agthe marrow of his bones moist.
25Another dies in ahbitterness of soul,
never having tasted of prosperity.
26They ailie down alike in the dust,
and ajthe worms cover them.
27Behold, I know your thoughts
and your schemes to wrong me.
28For you say, akWhere is the house of the prince?
Where is althe tent in which the wicked lived?’
29Have you not asked those who travel the roads,
and do you not accept their testimony
30that amthe evil man is spared in the day of calamity,
that he is rescued in the day of wrath?
31Who declares his way anto his face,
and who aorepays him for what he has done?
32When he is apcarried to the grave,
watch is kept over his tomb.
33 aqThe clods of the valley are sweet to him;
arall mankind follows after him,
and those who go before him are innumerable.
34How then will you comfort me with empty nothings?
There is nothing left of your answers but falsehood.”
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