Job 20–21

20Job, you upset me. Now I’m impatient to answer.

³What you have said is an insult,

but I know how to reply to you.

⁴Surely you know that from ancient times,

when human beings were first placed on earth,

⁵no wicked people have been happy for long.

⁶They may grow great, towering to the sky,

so great that their heads reach the clouds,

⁷but they will be blown away like dust.

Those who used to know them

will wonder where they have gone.

⁸They will vanish like a dream, like a vision at night,

and never be seen again.

⁹The wicked will disappear from the place where they used to live;

¹⁰and their children will make good what they stole from the poor.

¹¹Their bodies used to be young and vigorous,

but soon they will turn to dust.

^12–13Evil tastes so good to them

that they keep some in their mouths to enjoy its flavour.

¹⁴But in their stomachs the food turns bitter,

as bitter as any poison could be.

¹⁵The wicked vomit up the wealth they stole;

God takes it back, even out of their stomachs.

¹⁶What evil people swallow is like poison;

it kills them like the bite of a deadly snake.

¹⁷They will not live to see rivers of olive oil^r

or streams that flow with milk and honey.

¹⁸They will have to give up all they have worked for;

they will have no chance to enjoy their wealth,

¹⁹because they oppressed and neglected the poor

and seized houses someone else had built.

²⁰Their greed is never satisfied.

²¹When they eat, there is nothing left over,

but now their prosperity comes to an end.

²²At the height of their success

all the weight of misery will crush them.

²³Let them eat all they want!

God will punish them in fury and anger.

²⁴When they try to escape from an iron sword,

a bronze bow will shoot them down.

²⁵Arrows stick through their bodies;

the shiny points drip with their blood,

and terror grips their hearts.

²⁶Everything they have saved is destroyed;

a fire not lit by human hands

burns them and all their families.

²⁷Heaven reveals their sin,

and the earth gives testimony against them.

²⁸All their wealth will be destroyed

in the flood of God’s anger.

²⁹This is the fate of the wicked,

the fate that God assigns to them.

21Listen to what I am saying;

that is all the comfort I ask from you.

³Give me a chance to speak and then,

when I am through, sneer if you like.

⁴My quarrel is not with mortals;

I have good reason to be impatient.

⁵Look at me. Isn’t that enough

to make you stare in shocked silence?

⁶When I think of what has happened to me,

I am stunned, and I tremble and shake.

⁷Why does God let evil people live,

let them grow old and prosper?

⁸They have children and grandchildren,

and live to watch them all grow up.

⁹God does not bring disaster on their homes;

they never have to live in terror.

¹⁰Yes, all their cattle breed

and give birth without trouble.

¹¹Their children run and play like lambs

¹²and dance to the music of harps and flutes.

¹³They live out their lives in peace

and quietly die without suffering.

¹⁴The wicked tell God to leave them alone;

they don’t want to know his will for their lives.

¹⁵They think there is no need to serve God

nor any advantage in praying to him.

¹⁶They claim they succeed by their own strength,

but their way of thinking I can’t accept.

¹⁷Was a wicked person’s light ever put out?

Did one of them ever meet with disaster?

Did God ever punish the wicked in anger

¹⁸and blow them away like straw in the wind,

or like dust carried away in a storm?

¹⁹You 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.

²⁰Let sinners bear their own punishment;

let them feel the wrath of Almighty God.

²¹When our lives are over,

do we really care whether our children are happy?

²²Can anyone teach God,

who judges even those in high places?

^23–24Some people stay healthy till the day they die;

they die happy and at ease,

their bodies well nourished.

²⁵Others have no happiness at all;

they live and die with bitter hearts.

²⁶But all alike die and are buried;

they all are covered with worms.

²⁷I know what spiteful thoughts you have.

²⁸You ask, “Where are the houses of great people now,

those who practiced evil?”

²⁹Haven’t you talked with people who travel?

Don’t you know the reports they bring back?

³⁰On the day God is angry and punishes,

it is the wicked who are always spared.

³¹There is no one to accuse the wicked or pay them back for all they have done.

³²When they are carried to the graveyard,

to their well-guarded tombs,

³³thousands join the funeral procession,

and even the earth lies gently on their bodies.

³⁴And you! You try to comfort me with nonsense!

Every answer you give is a lie!