Parallel Bible results for "job 21"

Job 21

The Message Bible MSG

1 Job replied:

2 "Now listen to me carefully, please listen, at least do me the favor of listening.

3 Put up with me while I have my say - then you can mock me later to your heart's content.

4 "It's not you I'm complaining to - it's God. Is it any wonder I'm getting fed up with his silence?

5 Take a good look at me. Aren't you appalled by what's happened? No! Don't say anything. I can do without your comments.

6 When I look back, I go into shock, my body is racked with spasms.

7 Why do the wicked have it so good, live to a ripe old age and get rich?

8 They get to see their children succeed, get to watch and enjoy their grandchildren.

9 Their homes are peaceful and free from fear; they never experience God's disciplining rod.

10 Their bulls breed with great vigor and their cows calve without fail.

11 They send their children out to play and watch them frolic like spring lambs.

12 They make music with fiddles and flutes, have good times singing and dancing.

13 They have a long life on easy street, and die painlessly in their sleep.

14 They say to God, 'Get lost! We've no interest in you or your ways.

15 Why should we have dealings with God Almighty? What's there in it for us?'

16 But they're wrong, dead wrong - they're not gods. It's beyond me how they can carry on like this!

17 "Still, how often does it happen that the wicked fail, or disaster strikes, or they get their just deserts?

18 How often are they blown away by bad luck? Not very often.

19 You might say, 'God is saving up the punishment for their children.' I say, 'Give it to them right now so they'll know what they've done!'

20 They deserve to experience the effects of their evil, feel the full force of God's wrath firsthand.

21 What do they care what happens to their families after they're safely tucked away in the grave? Fancy Funerals with All the Trimmings

22 "But who are we to tell God how to run his affairs? He's dealing with matters that are way over our heads.

23 Some people die in the prime of life, with everything going for them -

24 fat and sassy.

25 Others die bitter and bereft, never getting a taste of happiness.

26 They're laid out side by side in the cemetery, where the worms can't tell one from the other.

27 "I'm not deceived. I know what you're up to, the plans you're cooking up to bring me down.

28 Naively you claim that the castles of tyrants fall to pieces, that the achievements of the wicked collapse.

29 Have you ever asked world travelers how they see it? Have you not listened to their stories

30 Of evil men and women who got off scot-free, who never had to pay for their wickedness?

31 Did anyone ever confront them with their crimes? Did they ever have to face the music?

32 Not likely - they're given fancy funerals with all the trimmings,

33 Gently lowered into expensive graves, with everyone telling lies about how wonderful they were.

34 "So how do you expect me to get any comfort from your nonsense? Your so-called comfort is a tissue of lies."

World English Bible WEB

1 Then Job answered,

2 "Listen diligently to my speech. Let this be your consolation.

3 Allow me, and I also will speak; After I have spoken, mock on.

4 As for me, is my complaint to man? Why shouldn't I be impatient?

5 Look at me, and be astonished. Lay your hand on your mouth.

6 When I remember, I am troubled. Horror takes hold of my flesh.

7 "Why do the wicked live, Become old, yes, and grow mighty in power?

8 Their child is established with them in their sight, Their offspring before their eyes.

9 Their houses are safe from fear, Neither is the rod of God upon them.

10 Their bulls breed without fail. Their cows calve, and don't miscarry.

11 They send forth their little ones like a flock. Their children dance.

12 They sing to the tambourine and harp, And rejoice at the sound of the pipe.

13 They spend their days in prosperity. In an instant they go down to Sheol.

14 They tell God, 'Depart from us, For we don't want to know about your ways.

15 What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? What profit should we have, if we pray to him?'

16 Behold, their prosperity is not in their hand: The counsel of the wicked is far from me.

17 "How often is it that the lamp of the wicked is put out? That their calamity comes on them? That God distributes sorrows in his anger?

18 That they are as stubble before the wind, As chaff that the storm carries away?

19 You say, 'God lays up his iniquity for his children.' Let him recompense it to himself, that he may know it.

20 Let his own eyes see his destruction. Let him drink of the wrath of the Almighty.

21 For what does he care for his house after him, When the number of his months is cut off?

22 "Shall any teach God knowledge, Seeing he judges those who are high?

23 One dies in his full strength, Being wholly at ease and quiet.

24 His pails are full of milk. The marrow of his bones is moistened.

25 Another dies in bitterness of soul, And never tastes of good.

26 They lie down alike in the dust, The worm covers them.

27 "Behold, I know your thoughts, The devices with which you would wrong me.

28 For you say, 'Where is the house of the prince? Where is the tent in which the wicked lived?'

29 Haven't you asked wayfaring men? Don't you know their evidences,

30 That the evil man is reserved to the day of calamity? That they are led forth to the day of wrath?

31 Who shall declare his way to his face? Who shall repay him what he has done?

32 Yet shall he be borne to the grave, Men shall keep watch over the tomb.

33 The clods of the valley shall be sweet to him. All men shall draw after him, As there were innumerable before him.

34 So how can you comfort me with nonsense, Seeing that in your answers there remains only falsehood?"