As for me, is (A)my complaint [a]to a mortal?
Or (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,
Grow old, and also become very [c](F)powerful?
Their [d](G)descendants endure with them in their sight,
And their offspring before their eyes,
Their houses (H)are safe from fear,
And the [e]rod of God is not on them.
10 His ox mates [f]without fail;
His cow calves and does not miscarry.
11 They send out their boys like the flock,
And their children dance.
12 They [g]sing with the tambourine and harp,
And rejoice at the sound of the flute.
13 They (I)spend their days in prosperity,
And [h]suddenly they go down to [i]Sheol.
14 Yet they say to God, ‘(J)Go away from us!
We do not even desire the knowledge of Your ways.
15 [j]Who is [k]the Almighty, that we should serve Him,
And (K)what would we gain if we plead with Him?’
16 Behold, their prosperity is not in their hand;
The (L)advice of the wicked is far from me.

17 “How often is (M)the lamp of the wicked put out,
Or does their (N)disaster fall on them?
Does [l]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 21:7 Or superior
  4. Job 21:8 Lit seed
  5. Job 21:9 I.e., punishment
  6. Job 21:10 Lit and does not fail
  7. Job 21:12 Lit lifted up the voice
  8. Job 21:13 Or in peacefulness
  9. Job 21:13 I.e., the netherworld
  10. Job 21:15 Lit What
  11. Job 21:15 Heb Shaddai
  12. Job 21:17 Lit He

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