Job 21
Common English Bible
Grant me a hearing
21 Then Job answered:
2 Listen carefully to my remarks
and let that comfort you.
3 Bear with me so I can speak, I myself;
and after my reply you can mock.
4 Are my complaints against another human;
why is my patience short?
5 Turn to me and be appalled;
lay your hand over your mouth.
6 If I recall it, I’m scared;
shaking seizes my body.
The success of the wicked
7 Why do the wicked live,
grow old, and even become strong?
8 Their children are always with them,
their offspring in their sight,
9 their houses safe from dread,
God’s punishing stick not upon them.
10 Their bull always breeds successfully;
their cows give birth and never miscarry.
11 They send forth their little ones like sheep;
their infants bounce around.
12 They raise drum and lyre,
rejoice at the sound of a flute.
13 They spend their days contentedly,
go down to the grave[a] peacefully.
14 They say to God, “Turn away from us;
we take no pleasure in knowing your ways;
15 who is the Almighty[b] that we should serve him,
and what can we gain if we meet him?”
16 Look, isn’t their well-being the work of their own hands?
A sinner’s logic is beyond me.
Desired vindication
17 How often does the lamp of the wicked flicker
or disaster come upon them,
with its fury inflicting pain on them?
18 Let them be like straw in the wind,
like dry grass stolen by a storm.
19 God stores up his punishment for his children.
Let him destroy them so they know.
20 Let their own eyes witness their doom.
Let them drink from the Almighty’s wrath.
21 What do they care about their household after they die,
when their numbered days are cut off?
A common fate
22 Will they instruct God—
he who judges the most powerful?
23 Someone dies in wonderful health,
completely comfortable and well,
24 their buckets full of milk,
their bones marrow-filled and sound.
25 Another dies in bitter spirit,
never having tasted the good things.
26 They lie together in the dust
and worms cover them.
Further disagreement
27 Look, I know your thoughts;
your plans harm me.
28 You say, “Where is the official’s house?
Where is the tent, the dwelling of the wicked?”
29 Haven’t you asked travelers
or paid attention to their reports?
30 On the day of disaster the wicked are spared;
on the day of fury they are rescued.
31 Who can criticize their behavior to their faces;
they act, and who can avenge them?
32 They are carried to their graves;
someone keeps guard over their tombs.
33 The soil near the desert streambed is sweet to them;
everyone marches after them—
those before them, beyond counting.
34 How empty is your comfort to me;
only deceit remains in your responses.
Job 21
King James Version
21 But Job answered and said,
2 Hear diligently my speech, and let this be your consolations.
3 Suffer me that I may speak; and after that I have spoken, mock on.
4 As for me, is my complaint to man? and if it were so, why should not my spirit be troubled?
5 Mark me, and be astonished, and lay your hand upon your mouth.
6 Even when I remember I am afraid, and trembling taketh hold on my flesh.
7 Wherefore do the wicked live, become old, yea, are mighty in power?
8 Their seed is established in their sight with them, and their offspring before their eyes.
9 Their houses are safe from fear, neither is the rod of God upon them.
10 Their bull gendereth, and faileth not; their cow calveth, and casteth not her calf.
11 They send forth their little ones like a flock, and their children dance.
12 They take the timbrel and harp, and rejoice at the sound of the organ.
13 They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment go down to the grave.
14 Therefore they say unto God, Depart from us; for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways.
15 What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? and what profit should we have, if we pray unto him?
16 Lo, their good is not in their hand: the counsel of the wicked is far from me.
17 How oft is the candle of the wicked put out! and how oft cometh their destruction upon them! God distributeth sorrows in his anger.
18 They are as stubble before the wind, and as chaff that the storm carrieth away.
19 God layeth up his iniquity for his children: he rewardeth him, and he shall know it.
20 His eyes shall see his destruction, and he shall drink of the wrath of the Almighty.
21 For what pleasure hath he in his house after him, when the number of his months is cut off in the midst?
22 Shall any teach God knowledge? seeing he judgeth those that are high.
23 One dieth in his full strength, being wholly at ease and quiet.
24 His breasts are full of milk, and his bones are moistened with marrow.
25 And another dieth in the bitterness of his soul, and never eateth with pleasure.
26 They shall lie down alike in the dust, and the worms shall cover them.
27 Behold, I know your thoughts, and the devices which ye wrongfully imagine against me.
28 For ye say, Where is the house of the prince? and where are the dwelling places of the wicked?
29 Have ye not asked them that go by the way? and do ye not know their tokens,
30 That the wicked is reserved to the day of destruction? they shall be brought forth to the day of wrath.
31 Who shall declare his way to his face? and who shall repay him what he hath done?
32 Yet shall he be brought to the grave, and shall remain in the tomb.
33 The clods of the valley shall be sweet unto him, and every man shall draw after him, as there are innumerable before him.
34 How then comfort ye me in vain, seeing in your answers there remaineth falsehood?
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible