“As for me, is (A)my complaint [a]to man?
And (B)why should [b]I not be impatient?
“Look at me, and be astonished,
And (C)put your hand over your mouth.
“Even when I remember, I am disturbed,
And (D)horror takes hold of my flesh.
“Why (E)do the wicked still live,
Continue on, also become very (F)powerful?
“Their [c](G)descendants are established with them in their sight,
And their offspring before their eyes,
Their houses (H)are safe from fear,
And the rod of God is not on them.
10 “His ox mates [d]without fail;
His cow calves and does not abort.
11 “They send forth their little ones like the flock,
And their children skip about.
12 “They [e]sing to the timbrel and harp
And rejoice at the sound of the flute.
13 “They (I)spend their days in prosperity,
And [f]suddenly they go down to [g]Sheol.
14 “They say to God, ‘(J)Depart from us!
We do not even desire the knowledge of Your ways.
15 [h]Who is [i]the Almighty, that we should serve Him,
And (K)what would we gain if we entreat Him?’
16 “Behold, their prosperity is not in their hand;
The (L)counsel of the wicked is far from me.

17 “How often is (M)the lamp of the wicked put out,
Or does their (N)calamity fall on them?
Does [j]God apportion destruction in His anger?
18 “Are they as (O)straw before the wind,
And like (P)chaff which the storm carries away?

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Footnotes

  1. Job 21:4 Or against
  2. Job 21:4 Lit my spirit
  3. Job 21:8 Lit seed
  4. Job 21:10 Lit and does not fail
  5. Job 21:12 Lit lifted up the voice
  6. Job 21:13 So with most versions; M.T. are shattered by Sheol
  7. Job 21:13 I.e. the nether world
  8. Job 21:15 Lit What
  9. Job 21:15 Heb Shaddai
  10. Job 21:17 Lit He