Job 21
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1In response, Job said:1Then Job spoke again:
2"Listen carefully to my words; let this encourage all of you.2“Listen closely to what I am saying. That’s one consolation you can give me.
3Bear with me and let me speak! Then, after I've spoken, you'll be free to mock me.3Bear with me, and let me speak. After I have spoken, you may resume mocking me.
4After all, isn't my complaint against a human being? If so, why shouldn't I be impatient?4“My complaint is with God, not with people. I have good reason to be so impatient.
5Look at me, be appalled, and then shut up!5Look at me and be stunned. Put your hand over your mouth in shock.
6When I think about this, I'm petrified with terror and my body shudders uncontrollably."6When I think about what I am saying, I shudder. My body trembles.
7"Why do the wicked live to reach old age and increase in power and wealth, too?7“Why do the wicked prosper, growing old and powerful?
8Their children grow up while they're alive, and they live to see their grandchildren.8They live to see their children grow up and settle down, and they enjoy their grandchildren.
9Their houses are safe from fear, and God's chastisement never visits them.9Their homes are safe from every fear, and God does not punish them.
10Their bull breeds without fail, and their cows calve without miscarriages.10Their bulls never fail to breed. Their cows bear calves and never miscarry.
11They release their children to play like sheep; their young ones dance about,11They let their children frisk about like lambs. Their little ones skip and dance.
12singing with tambourines and lyres as they rejoice to the sound of flutes.12They sing with tambourine and harp. They celebrate to the sound of the flute.
13They grow old in prosperity, as they descend peacefully into the afterlife. 13They spend their days in prosperity, then go down to the grave in peace.
14"They say to God, 'Turn away from us! We have no desire to know your ways.14And yet they say to God, ‘Go away. We want no part of you and your ways.
15Who is the Almighty, that we should serve him? Where's the profit in talking to him?'15Who is the Almighty, and why should we obey him? What good will it do us to pray?’
16Behold! Their prosperity isn't in their control! The counsel of the wicked will remain far from me."16(They think their prosperity is of their own doing, but I will have nothing to do with that kind of thinking.)
17"How often do the wicked have their lights put out? Does calamity ever fall on them? Will God in his anger ever apportion their destruction?17“Yet the light of the wicked never seems to be extinguished. Do they ever have trouble? Does God distribute sorrows to them in anger?
18May they become like a straw, blown away before the wind; like a chaff that's swept off by a storm.18Are they driven before the wind like straw? Are they carried away by the storm like chaff? Not at all!
19God stores up their iniquity to repay their children; making them repay so that they may be aware.19“‘Well,’ you say, ‘at least God will punish their children!’ But I say he should punish the ones who sin, so that they understand his judgment.
20Their own eyes will see their destruction; and they'll drink the wrath of the Almighty.20Let them see their destruction with their own eyes. Let them drink deeply of the anger of the Almighty.
21What will they care for their household after them, when the number of his months comes to an end?"21For they will not care what happens to their family after they are dead.
22"Can God learn anything? After all, he will judge even the exalted ones.22“But who can teach a lesson to God, since he judges even the most powerful?
23Such persons will die in their full vigor, completely prosperous and secure.23One person dies in prosperity, completely comfortable and secure,
24His buckets are filled with milk, his bone marrow is healthy. 24the picture of good health, vigorous and fit.
25Others die with a bitter soul, never having tasted the good life. 25Another person dies in bitter poverty, never having tasted the good life.
26They both lie down in the dust; and worms cover them."26But both are buried in the same dust, both eaten by the same maggots.
27"Look! I know your thoughts, your plans are going to harm me.27“Look, I know what you’re thinking. I know the schemes you plot against me.
28You ask, 'Where is the noble person's house?' and 'Where are the tents where the wicked live?'28You will tell me of rich and wicked people whose houses have vanished because of their sins.
29Haven't you asked travelers on the highway? Don't you accept their word29But ask those who have been around, and they will tell you the truth.
30that the wicked person is spared from times of calamity, that he is rescued on the day of wrath?30Evil people are spared in times of calamity and are allowed to escape disaster.
31Who will expose his conduct to his face? Who will repay him for what he has done31No one criticizes them openly or pays them back for what they have done.
32when he is carried away to the cemetery and guardians are placed to watch his tomb?32When they are carried to the grave, an honor guard keeps watch at their tomb.
33The runoff from the streams will seem sweet to him; everyone will follow after him; countless crows march ahead of him.33A great funeral procession goes to the cemetery. Many pay their respects as the body is laid to rest, and the earth gives sweet repose.
34How then, can you console me so worthlessly? What is left of your answers is treachery."34“How can your empty clichés comfort me? All your explanations are lies!”
The Holy Bible: International Standard Version® Release 2.1 Copyright © 1996-2012 The ISV Foundation
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INTERNATIONALLY.
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Job 20
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