Job 21
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1Then Job spoke again:1Then Job answered:
2“Listen closely to what I am saying. That’s one consolation you can give me.2"Listen carefully to my words; let this be the consolation you offer me.
3Bear with me, and let me speak. After I have spoken, you may resume mocking me.3Bear with me and I will speak, and after I have spoken you may mock.
4“My complaint is with God, not with people. I have good reason to be so impatient.4Is my complaint against a man? If so, why should I not be impatient?
5Look at me and be stunned. Put your hand over your mouth in shock.5Look at me and be appalled; put your hands over your mouths.
6When I think about what I am saying, I shudder. My body trembles.6For, when I think about this, I am terrified and my body feels a shudder.
7“Why do the wicked prosper, growing old and powerful?7"Why do the wicked go on living, grow old, even increase in power?
8They live to see their children grow up and settle down, and they enjoy their grandchildren.8Their children are firmly established in their presence, their offspring before their eyes.
9Their homes are safe from every fear, and God does not punish them.9Their houses are safe and without fear; and no rod of punishment from God is upon them.
10Their bulls never fail to breed. Their cows bear calves and never miscarry.10Their bulls breed without fail; their cows calve and do not miscarry.
11They let their children frisk about like lambs. Their little ones skip and dance.11They allow their children to run like a flock; their little ones dance about.
12They sing with tambourine and harp. They celebrate to the sound of the flute.12They sing to the accompaniment of tambourine and harp, and make merry to the sound of the flute.
13They spend their days in prosperity, then go down to the grave in peace.13They live out their years in prosperity and go down to the grave in peace.
14And yet they say to God, ‘Go away. We want no part of you and your ways.14So they say to God, 'Turn away from us! We do not want to know your ways.
15Who is the Almighty, and why should we obey him? What good will it do us to pray?’15Who is the Almighty, that we should serve him? What would we gain if we were to pray to him?'
16(They think their prosperity is of their own doing, but I will have nothing to do with that kind of thinking.)16But their prosperity is not their own doing. The counsel of the wicked is far from me!
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?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?
18Are they driven before the wind like straw? Are they carried away by the storm like chaff? Not at all!18How often are they like straw before the wind, and like chaff swept away by a whirlwind?
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.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!
20Let them see their destruction with their own eyes. Let them drink deeply of the anger of the Almighty.20Let his own eyes see his destruction; let him drink of the anger of the Almighty.
21For they will not care what happens to their family after they are dead.21For what is his interest in his home after his death, when the number of his months has been broken off?
22“But who can teach a lesson to God, since he judges even the most powerful?22Can anyone teach God knowledge, since he judges those that are on high?
23One person dies in prosperity, completely comfortable and secure,23"One man dies in his full vigor, completely secure and prosperous,
24the picture of good health, vigorous and fit.24his body well nourished, and the marrow of his bones moist.
25Another person dies in bitter poverty, never having tasted the good life.25And another man dies in bitterness of soul, never having tasted anything good.
26But both are buried in the same dust, both eaten by the same maggots.26Together they lie down in the dust, and worms cover over them both.
27“Look, I know what you’re thinking. I know the schemes you plot against me.27"Yes, I know what you are thinking, the schemes by which you would wrong me.
28You will tell me of rich and wicked people whose houses have vanished because of their sins.28For you say, 'Where now is the nobleman's house, and where are the tents in which the wicked lived?'
29But ask those who have been around, and they will tell you the truth.29Have you never questioned those who travel the roads? Do you not recognize their accounts--
30Evil people are spared in times of calamity and are allowed to escape disaster.30that the evil man is spared from the day of his misfortune, that he is delivered from the day of God's wrath?
31No one criticizes them openly or pays them back for what they have done.31No one denounces his conduct to his face; no one repays him for what he has done.
32When they are carried to the grave, an honor guard keeps watch at their tomb.32And when he is carried to the tombs, and watch is kept over the funeral mound,
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.33The clods of the torrent valley are sweet to him; behind him everybody follows in procession, and before him goes a countless throng.
34“How can your empty clichés comfort me? All your explanations are lies!”34So how can you console me with your futile words? Nothing is left of your answers but deception!"
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.NET Bible copyright © 1996-2006 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. //netbible.com. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Job 20
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