Parallel Bible results for "Job 21"

Job 21

GNTA

NIV

1 Listen to what I am saying;
1 Then Job replied:
2 that is all the comfort I ask from you.
2 “Listen carefully to my words; let this be the consolation you give me.
3 Give me a chance to speak and then, when I am through, sneer if you like.
3 Bear with me while I speak, and after I have spoken, mock on.
4 My quarrel is not with mortals; I have good reason to be impatient.
4 “Is my complaint directed to a human being? Why should I not be impatient?
5 Look at me. Isn't that enough to make you stare in shocked silence?
5 Look at me and be appalled; clap your hand over your mouth.
6 When I think of what has happened to me, I am stunned, and I tremble and shake.
6 When I think about this, I am terrified; trembling seizes my body.
7 Why does God let evil people live, let them grow old and prosper?
7 Why do the wicked live on, growing old and increasing in power?
8 They have children and grandchildren, and live to watch them all grow up.
8 They see their children established around them, their offspring before their eyes.
9 God does not bring disaster on their homes; they never have to live in terror.
9 Their homes are safe and free from fear; the rod of God is not on them.
10 Yes, all their cattle breed and give birth without trouble.
10 Their bulls never fail to breed; their cows calve and do not miscarry.
11 Their children run and play like lambs
11 They send forth their children as a flock; their little ones dance about.
12 and dance to the music of harps and flutes.
12 They sing to the music of timbrel and lyre; they make merry to the sound of the pipe.
13 They live out their lives in peace and quietly die without suffering.
13 They spend their years in prosperity and go down to the grave in peace.
14 The wicked tell God to leave them alone; they don't want to know his will for their lives.
14 Yet they say to God, ‘Leave us alone! We have no desire to know your ways.
15 They think there is no need to serve God nor any advantage in praying to him.
15 Who is the Almighty, that we should serve him? What would we gain by praying to him?’
16 They claim they succeed by their own strength, but their way of thinking I can't accept.
16 But their prosperity is not in their own hands, so I stand aloof from the plans of the wicked.
17 Was a wicked person's light ever put out? Did one of them ever meet with disaster? Did God ever punish the wicked in anger
17 “Yet how often is the lamp of the wicked snuffed out? How often does calamity come upon them, the fate God allots in his anger?
18 and blow them away like straw in the wind, or like dust carried away in a storm?
18 How often are they like straw before the wind, like chaff swept away by a gale?
19 You claim God punishes a child for the sins of his father. No! Let God punish the sinners themselves; let him show that he does it because of [their ]sins.
19 It is said, ‘God stores up the punishment of the wicked for their children.’ Let him repay the wicked, so that they themselves will experience it!
20 Let sinners bear their own punishment; let them feel the wrath of Almighty God.
20 Let their own eyes see their destruction; let them drink the cup of the wrath of the Almighty.
21 When our lives are over, do we really care whether our children are happy?
21 For what do they care about the families they leave behind when their allotted months come to an end?
22 Can anyone teach God, who judges even those in high places?
22 “Can anyone teach knowledge to God, since he judges even the highest?
23 Some people stay healthy till the day they die; they die happy and at ease, their bodies well-nourished.
23 One person dies in full vigor, completely secure and at ease,
25 Others have no happiness at all; they live and die with bitter hearts.
25 Another dies in bitterness of soul, never having enjoyed anything good.
26 But all alike die and are buried; they all are covered with worms.
26 Side by side they lie in the dust, and worms cover them both.
27 I know what spiteful thoughts you have.
27 “I know full well what you are thinking, the schemes by which you would wrong me.
28 You ask, "Where are the homes of great people now, those who practiced evil?"
28 You say, ‘Where now is the house of the great, the tents where the wicked lived?’
29 Haven't you talked with people who travel? Don't you know the reports they bring back?
29 Have you never questioned those who travel? Have you paid no regard to their accounts—
30 On the day God is angry and punishes, it is the wicked who are always spared.
30 that the wicked are spared from the day of calamity, that they are delivered from the day of wrath?
31 There is no one to accuse the wicked or pay them back for all they have done.
31 Who denounces their conduct to their face? Who repays them for what they have done?
32 When they are carried to the graveyard, to their well-guarded tombs,
32 They are carried to the grave, and watch is kept over their tombs.
33 thousands join the funeral procession, and even the earth lies gently on their bodies.
33 The soil in the valley is sweet to them; everyone follows after them, and a countless throng goes before them.
34 And you! You try to comfort me with nonsense! Every answer you give is a lie!
34 “So how can you console me with your nonsense? Nothing is left of your answers but falsehood!”
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.
Scripture quoted by permission.  Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®.  NIV®.  Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica.  All rights reserved worldwide.