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Job 21:4-18
New International Version
Job 21:4-18
New International Version
4 “Is my complaint(A) directed to a human being?
Why should I not be impatient?(B)
5 Look at me and be appalled;
clap your hand over your mouth.(C)
6 When I think about this, I am terrified;(D)
trembling seizes my body.(E)
7 Why do the wicked live on,
growing old and increasing in power?(F)
8 They see their children established around them,
their offspring before their eyes.(G)
9 Their homes are safe and free from fear;(H)
the rod of God is not on them.(I)
10 Their bulls never fail to breed;
their cows calve and do not miscarry.(J)
11 They send forth their children as a flock;(K)
their little ones dance about.
12 They sing to the music of timbrel and lyre;(L)
they make merry to the sound of the pipe.(M)
13 They spend their years in prosperity(N)
and go down to the grave(O) in peace.[a](P)
14 Yet they say to God, ‘Leave us alone!(Q)
We have no desire to know your ways.(R)
15 Who is the Almighty, that we should serve him?
What would we gain by praying to him?’(S)
16 But their prosperity is not in their own hands,
so I stand aloof from the plans of the wicked.(T)
Footnotes
- Job 21:13 Or in an instant
Job 21:4-18
International Standard Version
Job 21:4-18
International Standard Version
4 After all, isn’t my complaint against a human being?
If so, why shouldn’t I be impatient?
5 Look at me, be appalled,
and then shut up!
6 When I think about this,[a] I’m petrified with terror
and my body shudders uncontrollably.”
The Wicked Prospers
7 “Why do the wicked live to reach old age
and increase in power and wealth, too?
8 Their children grow up while they’re alive,
and they live to see their grandchildren.
9 Their houses are safe from fear,
and God’s chastisement[b] never visits them.
10 Their bull breeds without fail,
and their cows calve without miscarriages.
11 They release their children to play like sheep;
their young ones[c] dance about,
12 singing[d] with tambourines and lyres
as they rejoice to the sound of flutes.
13 They grow old[e] in prosperity,
as they descend peacefully into the afterlife.[f]
14 “They say to God, ‘Turn away from us!
We have no desire to know your ways.
15 Who is the Almighty, that we should serve him?
Where’s the profit in talking to him?’
16 Behold! Their prosperity isn’t in their control!
The counsel of the wicked will remain far from me.”
God will Punish the Wicked
17 “How often do the wicked have their lights put out?
Does calamity ever fall on them?
Will God[g] in his anger ever apportion their destruction?
18 May they become like a straw,
blown away before the wind;
like a chaff that’s swept off by a storm.
Job 21:4-18
King James Version
Job 21:4-18
King James Version
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.
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International Standard Version (ISV) 
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