Job 21
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1Then Job answered: 1Then Job spoke again:
2"Listen carefully to my words; let this be the consolation you offer me. 2“Listen closely to what I am saying. That’s one consolation you can give me.
3Bear with me and I will speak, and after I have spoken you may mock. 3Bear with me, and let me speak. After I have spoken, you may resume mocking me.
4Is my complaint against a man? If so, why should I not be impatient? 4“My complaint is with God, not with people. I have good reason to be so impatient.
5Look at me and be appalled; put your hands over your mouths. 5Look at me and be stunned. Put your hand over your mouth in shock.
6For, when I think about this, I am terrified and my body feels a shudder. 6When I think about what I am saying, I shudder. My body trembles.
7"Why do the wicked go on living, grow old, even increase in power? 7“Why do the wicked prosper, growing old and powerful?
8Their children are firmly established in their presence, their offspring before their eyes. 8They live to see their children grow up and settle down, and they enjoy their grandchildren.
9Their houses are safe and without fear; and no rod of punishment from God is upon them. 9Their homes are safe from every fear, and God does not punish them.
10Their bulls breed without fail; their cows calve and do not miscarry. 10Their bulls never fail to breed. Their cows bear calves and never miscarry.
11They allow their children to run like a flock; their little ones dance about. 11They let their children frisk about like lambs. Their little ones skip and dance.
12They sing to the accompaniment of tambourine and harp, and make merry to the sound of the flute. 12They sing with tambourine and harp. They celebrate to the sound of the flute.
13They live out their years in prosperity and go down to the grave in peace. 13They spend their days in prosperity, then go down to the grave in peace.
14So they say to God, 'Turn away from us! We do not want 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? What would we gain if we were to pray to him?' 15Who is the Almighty, and why should we obey him? What good will it do us to pray?’
16But their prosperity is not their own doing. The counsel of the wicked is 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 is the lamp of the wicked extinguished? How often does their misfortune come upon them? How often does God apportion pain to them in his anger? 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?
18How often are they like straw before the wind, and like chaff swept away by a whirlwind? 18Are they driven before the wind like straw? Are they carried away by the storm like chaff? Not at all!
19You may say, 'God stores up a man's punishment for his children!' Instead let him repay the man himself so that he may know it! 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.
20Let his own eyes see his destruction; let him drink of the anger of the Almighty. 20Let them see their destruction with their own eyes. Let them drink deeply of the anger of the Almighty.
21For what is his interest in his home after his death, when the number of his months has been broken off? 21For they will not care what happens to their family after they are dead.
22Can anyone teach God knowledge, since he judges those that are on high? 22“But who can teach a lesson to God, since he judges even the most powerful?
23"One man dies in his full vigor, completely secure and prosperous, 23One person dies in prosperity, completely comfortable and secure,
24his body well nourished, and the marrow of his bones moist. 24the picture of good health, vigorous and fit.
25And another man dies in bitterness of soul, never having tasted anything good. 25Another person dies in bitter poverty, never having tasted the good life.
26Together they lie down in the dust, and worms cover over them both. 26But both are buried in the same dust, both eaten by the same maggots.
27"Yes, I know what you are thinking, the schemes by which you would wrong me. 27“Look, I know what you’re thinking. I know the schemes you plot against me.
28For you say, 'Where now is the nobleman's house, and where are the tents in which the wicked lived?' 28You will tell me of rich and wicked people whose houses have vanished because of their sins.
29Have you never questioned those who travel the roads? Do you not recognize their accounts--29But ask those who have been around, and they will tell you the truth.
30that the evil man is spared from the day of his misfortune, that he is delivered from the day of God's wrath? 30Evil people are spared in times of calamity and are allowed to escape disaster.
31No one denounces his conduct to his face; no one repays him for what he has done. 31No one criticizes them openly or pays them back for what they have done.
32And when he is carried to the tombs, and watch is kept over the funeral mound, 32When they are carried to the grave, an honor guard keeps watch at their tomb.
33The clods of the torrent valley are sweet to him; behind him everybody follows in procession, and before him goes a countless throng. 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.
34So how can you console me with your futile words? Nothing is left of your answers but deception!" 34“How can your empty clichés comfort me? All your explanations are lies!”
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Job 20
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