Job 21

Job Replies: The Wicked Do Prosper

1 Then Job answered and said:

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