Job 21:4-18
New King James Version
4 “As for me, is my complaint against man?
And if it were, why should I not be impatient?
5 Look at me and be astonished;
(A)Put your hand over your mouth.
6 Even when I remember I am terrified,
And trembling takes hold of my flesh.
7 (B)Why do the wicked live and become old,
Yes, become mighty in power?
8 Their descendants are established with them in their sight,
And their offspring before their eyes.
9 Their houses are safe from fear,
(C)Neither is [a]the rod of God upon them.
10 Their bull breeds without failure;
Their cow calves (D)without miscarriage.
11 They send forth their little ones like a flock,
And their children dance.
12 They sing to the tambourine and harp,
And rejoice to the sound of the flute.
13 They (E)spend their days in wealth,
And [b]in a moment go down to the [c]grave.
14 (F)Yet they say to God, ‘Depart from us,
For we do not desire the knowledge of Your ways.
15 (G)Who is the Almighty, that we should serve Him?
And (H)what profit do we have if we pray to Him?’
16 Indeed [d]their prosperity is not in their hand;
(I)The counsel of the wicked is far from me.
17 “How often is the lamp of the wicked put out?
How often does their destruction come upon them,
The sorrows God (J)distributes in His anger?
18 (K)They are like straw before the wind,
And like chaff that a storm [e]carries away.
Job 21:4-18
Lexham English Bible
4 As for me, is my complaint for human beings?
And if so, why cannot I be impatient?
5 Turn to me and be appalled,
and place your hand on your mouth.
6 And when I think of it, I am horrified,[a]
and shuddering seizes my flesh.
7 “Why do the wicked live,
grow old, even grow mighty in power?
8 With them their offspring are established before them,[b]
and their descendants before their eyes.
9 Their houses are safe without fear,
and the rod of God is not upon them.
10 His bull breeds and does not fail;
his cow calves and does not miscarry.
11 They send out their little ones like the flock,
and their children dance around.
12 They sing[c] to the tambourine and lyre,
and they rejoice to the sound of the long flute.
13 They spend their days in prosperity,
and in peace they go down to Sheol.
14 And they say to God, ‘Turn away from us,
for[d] we do not desire to know your ways.
15 Who is Shaddai that we should serve him,
or[e] what would we benefit when we plead with him?’
16 Look, their prosperity is not in their hands;
the schemes of the wicked are repugnant[f] to me.
17 “How often is the lamp of the wicked put out,
and their disaster comes upon them?
He[g] distributes pains in his anger.
18 How often are they like straw before[h] the wind,
and like chaff that the storm carries away?
Footnotes
- Job 21:6 Hebrew “and I am horrified”
- Job 21:8 Literally “to their faces”
- Job 21:12 Literally “they lift up their voices”
- Job 21:14 Hebrew “and”
- Job 21:15 Hebrew “and”
- Job 21:16 Or “the plan of the wicked is repugnant”
- Job 21:17 The antecedent is “God,” or possibly “the Almighty”
- Job 21:18 Literally “to the faces of”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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