Job 21 (New International Version)

Job

1 Then Job replied: 2 "Listen carefully to my words;¹ let this be the consolation you give me.² 3 Bear with me while I speak, and after I have spoken, mock on.³ 4 "Is my complaint⁴ directed to man? Why should I not be impatient?⁵ 5 Look at me and be astonished; clap your hand over your mouth.⁶ 6 When I think about this, I am terrified;⁷ trembling seizes my body.⁸ 7 Why do the wicked live on, growing old and increasing in power?⁹ 8 They see their children established around them, their offspring before their eyes.¹⁰ 9 Their homes are safe and free from fear;¹¹ the rod of God is not upon them.¹² 10 Their bulls never fail to breed; their cows calve and do not miscarry.¹³ 11 They send forth their children as a flock;¹⁴ their little ones dance about. 12 They sing to the music of tambourine and harp;¹⁵ they make merry to the sound of the flute.¹⁶ 13 They spend their years in prosperity¹⁷ and go down to the grave^a18 in peace.^b19 14 Yet they say to God, 'Leave us alone!²⁰ We have no desire to know your ways.²¹ 15 Who is the Almighty, that we should serve him? What would we gain by praying to him?'²² 16 But their prosperity is not in their own hands, so I stand aloof from the counsel of the wicked.²³ 17 "Yet how often is the lamp of the wicked snuffed out?²⁴ How often does calamity²⁵ come upon them, the fate God allots in his anger?²⁶ 18 How often are they like straw before the wind, like chaff²⁷ swept away²⁸²⁹ by a gale?³⁰ 19 [It is said, ] 'God stores up a man's punishment for his sons.'³¹ Let him repay the man himself, so that he will know it!³² 20 Let his own eyes see his destruction;³³ let him drink³⁴ of the wrath of the Almighty.^c35 21 For what does he care about the family he leaves behind³⁶ when his allotted months³⁷ come to an end?³⁸ 22 "Can anyone teach knowledge to God,³⁹ since he judges even the highest?⁴⁰ 23 One man dies in full vigor,⁴¹ completely secure and at ease,⁴² 24 his body^d well nourished,⁴³ his bones⁴⁴ rich with marrow.⁴⁵ 25 Another man dies in bitterness of soul,⁴⁶ never having enjoyed anything good. 26 Side by side they lie in the dust,⁴⁷ and worms⁴⁸ cover them both.⁴⁹ 27 "I know full well what you are thinking, the schemes by which you would wrong me. 28 You say, 'Where now is the great man's⁵⁰ house, the tents where wicked men lived?'⁵¹ 29 Have you never questioned those who travel? Have you paid no regard to their accounts-- 30 that the evil man is spared from the day of calamity,⁵² that he is delivered from^e the day of wrath?⁵³ 31 Who denounces his conduct to his face? Who repays him for what he has done?⁵⁴ 32 He is carried to the grave, and watch is kept over his tomb.⁵⁵ 33 The soil in the valley is sweet to him;⁵⁶ all men follow after him, and a countless throng goes^f before him.⁵⁷ 34 "So how can you console me⁵⁸ with your nonsense? Nothing is left of your answers but falsehood!"⁵⁹