Job 21:1–21

Job

21 Then Job replied:

2 “Listen carefully to my words;w

let this be the consolation you give me.x

3 Bear with me while I speak,

and after I have spoken, mock on.y

4 “Is my complaintz directed to a human being?

Why should I not be impatient?a

5 Look at me and be appalled;

clap your hand over your mouth.b

6 When I think about this, I am terrified;c

trembling seizes my body.d

7 Why do the wicked live on,

growing old and increasing in power?e

8 They see their children established around them,

their offspring before their eyes.f

9 Their homes are safe and free from fear;g

the rod of God is not on them.h

10 Their bulls never fail to breed;

their cows calve and do not miscarry.i

11 They send forth their children as a flock;j

their little ones dance about.

12 They sing to the music of timbrel and lyre;k

they make merry to the sound of the pipe.l

13 They spend their years in prosperitym

and go down to the graven in peace.a o

14 Yet they say to God, ‘Leave us alone!p

We have no desire to know your ways.q

15 Who is the Almighty, that we should serve him?

What would we gain by praying to him?’r

16 But their prosperity is not in their own hands,

so I stand aloof from the plans of the wicked.s

17 “Yet how often is the lamp of the wicked snuffed out?t

How often does calamityu come upon them,

the fate God allots in his anger?v

18 How often are they like straw before the wind,

like chaffw swept awayx by a gale?y

19 It is said, ‘God stores up the punishment of the wicked for their children.’z

Let him repay the wicked, so that they themselves will experience it!a

20 Let their own eyes see their destruction;b

let them drinkc the cup of the wrath of the Almighty.d

21 For what do they care about the families they leave behinde

when their allotted monthsf come to an end?g