Job 21:4-18
World English Bible
4 As for me, is my complaint to man?
Why shouldn’t I be impatient?
5 Look at me, and be astonished.
Lay your hand on your mouth.
6 When I remember, I am troubled.
Horror takes hold of my flesh.
7 “Why do the wicked live,
become old, yes, and grow mighty in power?
8 Their child is established with them in their sight,
their offspring before their eyes.
9 Their houses are safe from fear,
neither is the rod of God upon them.
10 Their bulls breed without fail.
Their cows calve, and don’t miscarry.
11 They send out their little ones like a flock.
Their children dance.
12 They sing to the tambourine and harp,
and rejoice at the sound of the pipe.
13 They spend their days in prosperity.
In an instant they go down to Sheol.[a]
14 They tell God, ‘Depart from us,
for we don’t want to know about your ways.
15 What is the Almighty, that we should serve him?
What profit should we have, if we pray to him?’
16 Behold, their prosperity is not in their hand.
The counsel of the wicked is far from me.
17 “How often is it that the lamp of the wicked is put out,
that their calamity comes on them,
that God distributes sorrows in his anger?
18 How often is it that they are as stubble before the wind,
as chaff that the storm carries away?
Footnotes
- 21:13 Sheol is the place of the dead.
Job 21:4-18
International Standard Version
4 After all, isn’t my complaint against a human being?
If so, why shouldn’t I be impatient?
5 Look at me, be appalled,
and then shut up!
6 When I think about this,[a] I’m petrified with terror
and my body shudders uncontrollably.”
The Wicked Prospers
7 “Why do the wicked live to reach old age
and increase in power and wealth, too?
8 Their children grow up while they’re alive,
and they live to see their grandchildren.
9 Their houses are safe from fear,
and God’s chastisement[b] never visits them.
10 Their bull breeds without fail,
and their cows calve without miscarriages.
11 They release their children to play like sheep;
their young ones[c] dance about,
12 singing[d] with tambourines and lyres
as they rejoice to the sound of flutes.
13 They grow old[e] in prosperity,
as they descend peacefully into the afterlife.[f]
14 “They say to God, ‘Turn away from us!
We have no desire to know your ways.
15 Who is the Almighty, that we should serve him?
Where’s the profit in talking to him?’
16 Behold! Their prosperity isn’t in their control!
The counsel of the wicked will remain far from me.”
God will Punish the Wicked
17 “How often do the wicked have their lights put out?
Does calamity ever fall on them?
Will God[g] in his anger ever apportion their destruction?
18 May they become like a straw,
blown away before the wind;
like a chaff that’s swept off by a storm.
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