Job 21:4-18

New Century Version

⁴ “My complaint is not just against people;
    I have reason to be impatient.
⁵ Look at me and be shocked;
    put your hand over your mouth in shock.
⁶ When I think about this, I am terribly afraid
    and my body shakes.
⁷ Why do evil people live a long time?
    They grow old and become more powerful.
⁸ They see their children around them;
    they watch them grow up.
⁹ Their homes are safe and without fear;
    God does not punish them.
¹⁰ Their bulls never fail to mate;
    their cows have healthy calves.
¹¹ They send out their children like a flock;
    their little ones dance about.
¹² They sing to the music of tambourines and harps,
    and the sound of the flute makes them happy.
¹³ Evil people enjoy successful lives
    and then go peacefully to the grave.
¹⁴ They say to God, ‘Leave us alone!
    We don’t want to know your ways.
¹⁵ Who is the Almighty that we should serve him?
    What would we gain by praying to him?’
¹⁶ The success of the wicked is not their own doing.
    Their way of thinking is different from mine.
¹⁷ Yet how often are the lamps of evil people turned off?
    How often does trouble come to them?
    How often do they suffer God’s angry punishment?
¹⁸ How often are they like straw in the wind
    or like chaff that is blown away by a storm?