Job 21-22

English Standard Version

^2 (A)“Keep listening to my words,
    and let this be your comfort.
³ Bear with me, and I will speak,
    and after I have spoken, ^(B)mock on.
⁴ As for me, is my ^(C)complaint against man?
    Why should I not be impatient?
⁵ Look at me and be appalled,
    and ^(D)lay your hand over your mouth.
⁶ When I remember, I am dismayed,
    and shuddering seizes my flesh.
^7 (E)Why do the wicked live,
    reach old age, and grow mighty in power?
⁸ Their ^(F)offspring are established in their presence,
    and their descendants before their eyes.
⁹ Their houses are ^(G)safe from fear,
    and ^(H)no rod of God is upon them.
¹⁰ Their bull breeds without fail;
    their cow calves and ^(I)does not miscarry.
¹¹ They send out their ^(J)little boys like a flock,
    and their children dance.
¹² They sing to ^(K)the tambourine and ^(L)the lyre
    and rejoice to the sound of ^(M)the pipe.
¹³ They ^(N)spend their days in prosperity,
    and in ^(O)peace they go down to ^(P)Sheol.
¹⁴ They say to God, ^(Q)‘Depart from us!
    We do not desire the knowledge of your ways.
^15 (R)What is the Almighty, that we should serve him?
    And what ^(S)profit do we get if we pray to him?’
¹⁶ Behold, is not their prosperity in their hand?
    ^(T)The counsel of the wicked is far from me.

¹⁷ “How often is it that ^(U)the lamp of the wicked is put out?
    That their calamity comes upon them?
    That God^[a] distributes pains in his anger?
¹⁸ That they are like ^(V)straw before the wind,
    and like ^(W)chaff that the storm carries away?
¹⁹ You say, ‘God ^(X)stores up their iniquity for their ^(Y)children.’
    Let him pay it out to them, that they may ^(Z)know it.
²⁰ Let their own eyes see their destruction,
    and let them ^(AA)drink of the wrath of the Almighty.
²¹ For what do they care for their houses after them,
    when ^(AB)the number of their months is cut off?
^22 (AC)Will any teach God knowledge,
    seeing that he ^(AD)judges those who are on high?
²³ One dies in his full vigor,
    being wholly at ease and secure,
²⁴ his pails^[b] full of milk
    and ^(AE)the marrow of his bones moist.
²⁵ Another dies in ^(AF)bitterness of soul,
    never having tasted of prosperity.
²⁶ They ^(AG)lie down alike in the dust,
    and ^(AH)the worms cover them.

²⁷ “Behold, I know your thoughts
    and your schemes to wrong me.
²⁸ For you say, ^(AI)‘Where is the house of the prince?
    Where is ^(AJ)the tent in which the wicked lived?’
²⁹ Have you not asked those who travel the roads,
    and do you not accept their testimony
³⁰ that ^(AK)the evil man is spared in the day of calamity,
    that he is rescued in the day of wrath?
³¹ Who declares his way ^(AL)to his face,
    and who ^(AM)repays him for what he has done?
³² When he is ^(AN)carried to the grave,
    watch is kept over his tomb.
^33 (AO)The clods of the valley are sweet to him;
    ^(AP)all mankind follows after him,
    and those who go before him are innumerable.
³⁴ How then will you comfort me with empty nothings?
    There is nothing left of your answers but falsehood.”

^2 (AR)“Can a man be profitable to God?
    Surely he who is wise is profitable to himself.
³ Is it any pleasure to the Almighty if you are in the right,
    or is it gain to him if you ^(AS)make your ways blameless?
⁴ Is it for your fear of him that he reproves you
    and ^(AT)enters into judgment with you?
⁵ Is not your evil abundant?
    There is no end to your iniquities.
⁶ For you have ^(AU)exacted pledges of your brothers for nothing
    ^(AV)and stripped the naked of their clothing.
⁷ You have given no water to the weary to drink,
    and you have ^(AW)withheld bread from the hungry.
^8 (AX)The man with power possessed the land,
    and ^(AY)the favored man lived in it.
⁹ You have ^(AZ)sent widows away empty,
    and ^(BA)the arms of ^(BB)the fatherless were crushed.
¹⁰ Therefore ^(BC)snares are all around you,
    and sudden terror overwhelms you,
¹¹ or ^(BD)darkness, so that you cannot see,
    and a ^(BE)flood of ^(BF)water covers you.

¹² “Is not God high in the heavens?
    See ^(BG)the highest stars, how lofty they are!
¹³ But you say, ^(BH)‘What does God know?
    Can he judge through ^(BI)the deep darkness?
^14 (BJ)Thick clouds veil him, so that he does not see,
    and he walks on the vault of heaven.’
¹⁵ Will you keep to the old way
    that wicked men have trod?
¹⁶ They were snatched away ^(BK)before their time;
    their foundation was washed away.^[c]
17 They said to God, ^(BL)‘Depart from us,’
    and ^(BM)‘What can the Almighty do to us?’^[d]
18 Yet he filled their houses with good things—
    but ^(BN)the counsel of the wicked is far from me.
^19 (BO)The righteous see it and are glad;
    the innocent one ^(BP)mocks at them,
²⁰ saying, ‘Surely our adversaries are cut off,
    and what they left ^(BQ)the fire has consumed.’

^21 (BR)“Agree with God, and ^(BS)be at peace;
    thereby good will come to you.
²² Receive instruction from ^(BT)his mouth,
    and ^(BU)lay up his words in your heart.
²³ If you ^(BV)return to the Almighty you will be ^(BW)built up;
    if you ^(BX)remove injustice far from your tents,
²⁴ if you lay gold in ^(BY)the dust,
    and gold of ^(BZ)Ophir among the stones of the torrent-bed,
²⁵ then the Almighty will be your gold
    and your precious silver.
²⁶ For then you ^(CA)will delight yourself in the Almighty
    and ^(CB)lift up your face to God.
²⁷ You will ^(CC)make your prayer to him, and he will hear you,
    and you will ^(CD)pay your vows.
²⁸ You will decide on a matter, and it will be established for you,
    and ^(CE)light will shine on your ways.
²⁹ For when they are humbled you say, ‘It is because of pride’;^[e]
    but he saves ^(CF)the lowly.
³⁰ He ^(CG)delivers even the one who is not innocent,
    who will be delivered through ^(CH)the cleanness of your hands.”