Job 21
1 Job replied,
Then responded Job, and said: —
2 “Please listen carefully to what I say—that would be one comfort you could give me.
Hear ye patiently my words, and let this be your consolation:
3 Bear with me; let me speak. After I've spoken you can resume mocking me.
Suffer me, that, I, may speak, and, after I have spoken, thou canst mock!
4 Am I complaining against people? Of course not. Why shouldn't I be impatient?
Did, I, unto man, make my complaint? Wherefore, then, should my spirit not be impatient?
5 Just take a look at me. Aren't you appalled? Cover your mouth with your hand in shock!
Turn round to me, and be astonished, and lay hand on mouth!
6 Every time I think of what's happened to me I am horrified and I shake all over with fear.
When I call to mind, then am I dismayed, and there seizeth my flesh a shuddering: —
7 Why do the wicked continue to live, to grow old and increasingly powerful?
Wherefore do, lawless men, live, advance in years, even wax mighty in power?
8 Their children are with them; they watch their grandchildren grow up.
Their seed, is established in their sight, along with them, yea their offspring, before their eyes;
9 They live in their homes in safety—they are not afraid. God does not use his rod to beat them.
Their houses, are at peace, without dread, neither is, the rod of GOD, upon them;
10 Their bulls always breed successfully; their cows give birth to calves and do not miscarry.
His bull, covereth, and causeth not aversion, His cow safely calveth, and casteth not her young;
11 They send out their little ones like lambs to play; their children dance around.
They send forth—like a flock—their young ones, and, their children, skip about for joy;
12 They sing accompanied by the tambourine and lyre; they celebrate with the music of the flute.
They rejoice aloud as [with] timbrel and lyre, and make merry to the sound of the pipe;
They complete, in prosperity, their days, and, in a moment to hades, they sink down. (Sheol h7585)
14 Yet they tell God, ‘Get lost! We don't want anything to do with you.
Yet they said unto GOD, Depart from us, and, In the knowledge of thy ways, find we no pleasure.
15 Who does the Almighty think he is for us to serve him as slaves? What benefit is there for us if we pray to him?’
What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? Or what shall we profit, that we should urge him?
16 Such people believe they make their own fortune, but I don't accept their way of thinking.
Lo! not in their own hand, is their welfare, The counsel of lawless men, is far from me!
17 How often is the lamp of the wicked snuffed out? How often does disaster come upon them? How often does God punish the wicked in his anger?
How oft, the lamp of the lawless, goeth out, and their calamity, cometh upon them, Sorrows, apportioneth he in his anger;
18 Are they blown along like straw in the wind? Does a tornado come in and carry them away?
They become as straw before the wind, and as chaff, which the storm stealeth away.
19 Some say, ‘God saves up people's punishment for their children.’ But I say, ‘God should punish those people themselves so that they can learn from it.’
Shall, GOD, reserve, for his children, his sorrow? Let him recompense him so that he may know it;
20 Let them see their destruction themselves, and drink deeply from God's anger.
His own eyes, shall see his misfortune, and, the wrath of the Almighty, shall he drink.
21 For they don't care what happens to their families once they're dead.
For what shall be his pleasure in his house after him, when, the number of his months, is cut in twain?
22 Can anyone teach God anything he doesn't already know, since he is the one who judges even heavenly beings?
Is it, to GOD, one can teach knowledge, seeing that, he, shall judge, them who are on high?
23 One person dies in good health, totally comfortable and secure.
This, man dieth, in the very perfection of his prosperity, wholly tranquil and secure;
24 Their body is fat from eating well; their bones still strong.
His veins, are filled with nourishment, and, the marrow of his bones, is fresh;
25 Another dies after a miserable life without every experiencing happiness.
Whereas, this other man, dieth, in bitterness of soul, and hath never tasted good fortune:
26 Yet they are both buried in the same dust; they are treated alike in death, eaten by maggots.
Together, in the dust, they lie down, and, the worm, spreadeth a covering over them.
27 Look, I know what you're thinking, and your schemes to do me wrong.
Lo! I know your plans, and the devices, wherewith ye would do me violence!
28 You may ask me, ‘Where is the home of the great man? Where is the place where the wicked live?’
For ye say, Where is the house of the noble-minded? And where the dwelling-tent of the lawless?
29 Haven't you asked people who travel? Don't you pay attention to what they tell you?
Have ye not asked the passers-by in the way? And, their signs, can ye not recognise?
30 Wicked people are spared in times of disaster; they are rescued from the day of judgment.
That, to the day of calamity, is the wicked reserved, to the day of indignant visitation, are they led.
31 Who confronts them with their actions? Who pays them back for what they have done?
Who can declare—to his face—his way? And, what, he, hath done, who shall recompense to him?
32 When they eventually die and are carried to the graveyard, their tomb is guarded. The earth of the grave softly covers them.
Yet, he, to the graves, is borne, and, over the tomb, one keepeth watch;
33 Everyone attends their funeral service; a huge procession of people comes to pay their last respects.
Pleasant to him are the mounds of the torrent-bed, —and, after him, doth every man march, as, before him, there were without number.
34 Why do you try to comfort me with worthless nonsense? Your answers are just a pack of lies!”
How then should ye comfort me with vanity, since, as for your replies, there lurketh, [in them] treachery?
