Job 21:7
New Living Translation
7 “Why do the wicked prosper,
growing old and powerful?
Psalm 73:3-12
New Living Translation
3 For I envied the proud
when I saw them prosper despite their wickedness.
4 They seem to live such painless lives;
their bodies are so healthy and strong.
5 They don’t have troubles like other people;
they’re not plagued with problems like everyone else.
6 They wear pride like a jeweled necklace
and clothe themselves with cruelty.
7 These fat cats have everything
their hearts could ever wish for!
8 They scoff and speak only evil;
in their pride they seek to crush others.
9 They boast against the very heavens,
and their words strut throughout the earth.
10 And so the people are dismayed and confused,
drinking in all their words.
11 “What does God know?” they ask.
“Does the Most High even know what’s happening?”
12 Look at these wicked people—
enjoying a life of ease while their riches multiply.
Job 12:6
New Living Translation
6 But robbers are left in peace,
and those who provoke God live in safety—
though God keeps them in his power.[a]
Footnotes
- 12:6 Or safety—those who try to manipulate God. The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain.
Jeremiah 12:1-3
New Living Translation
Jeremiah Questions the Lord’s Justice
12 Lord, you always give me justice
when I bring a case before you.
So let me bring you this complaint:
Why are the wicked so prosperous?
Why are evil people so happy?
2 You have planted them,
and they have taken root and prospered.
Your name is on their lips,
but you are far from their hearts.
3 But as for me, Lord, you know my heart.
You see me and test my thoughts.
Drag these people away like sheep to be butchered!
Set them aside to be slaughtered!
Psalm 37:35
New Living Translation
35 I have seen wicked and ruthless people
flourishing like a tree in its native soil.
Habakkuk 1:13
New Living Translation
13 But you are pure and cannot stand the sight of evil.
Will you wink at their treachery?
Should you be silent while the wicked
swallow up people more righteous than they?
Psalm 17:10
New Living Translation
10 They are without pity.
Listen to their boasting!
Revelation 17:2-4
New Living Translation
2 The kings of the world have committed adultery with her, and the people who belong to this world have been made drunk by the wine of her immorality.”
3 So the angel took me in the Spirit[a] into the wilderness. There I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that had seven heads and ten horns, and blasphemies against God were written all over it. 4 The woman wore purple and scarlet clothing and beautiful jewelry made of gold and precious gems and pearls. In her hand she held a gold goblet full of obscenities and the impurities of her immorality.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- 17:3 Or in spirit.
Revelation 13:2-7
New Living Translation
2 This beast looked like a leopard, but it had the feet of a bear and the mouth of a lion! And the dragon gave the beast his own power and throne and great authority.
3 I saw that one of the heads of the beast seemed wounded beyond recovery—but the fatal wound was healed! The whole world marveled at this miracle and gave allegiance to the beast. 4 They worshiped the dragon for giving the beast such power, and they also worshiped the beast. “Who is as great as the beast?” they exclaimed. “Who is able to fight against him?”
5 Then the beast was allowed to speak great blasphemies against God. And he was given authority to do whatever he wanted for forty-two months. 6 And he spoke terrible words of blasphemy against God, slandering his name and his dwelling—that is, those who dwell in heaven.[a] 7 And the beast was allowed to wage war against God’s holy people and to conquer them. And he was given authority to rule over every tribe and people and language and nation.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- 13:6 Some manuscripts read and his dwelling and all who dwell in heaven.
Habakkuk 1:15-16
New Living Translation
15 Must we be strung up on their hooks
and caught in their nets while they rejoice and celebrate?
16 Then they will worship their nets
and burn incense in front of them.
“These nets are the gods who have made us rich!”
they will claim.
Daniel 4:17
New Living Translation
17 For this has been decreed by the messengers[a];
it is commanded by the holy ones,
so that everyone may know
that the Most High rules over the kingdoms of the world.
He gives them to anyone he chooses—
even to the lowliest of people.”
Footnotes
- 4:17 Aramaic the watchers.
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.