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”
Job 21:4-18
American Standard Version
4 As for me, is my complaint [a]to man?
And why should I not be impatient?
5 [b]Mark me, and be astonished,
And lay your hand upon your mouth.
6 Even when I remember I am troubled,
And horror taketh hold on my flesh.
7 Wherefore do the wicked live,
Become old, yea, wax mighty in power?
8 Their seed is established with them in their sight,
And their offspring before their eyes.
9 Their houses are [c]safe from fear,
Neither is the rod of God upon them.
10 Their bull gendereth, and faileth not;
Their cow calveth, and casteth not her calf.
11 They send forth their little ones like a flock,
And their children dance.
12 They [d]sing to the timbrel and harp,
And rejoice at the sound of the pipe.
13 They spend their days in prosperity,
And in a moment they go down to Sheol.
14 And they say unto God, Depart from us;
For we desire not the knowledge of thy ways.
15 What is the Almighty, that we should serve him?
And what profit should we have, if we pray unto him?
16 [e]Lo, their prosperity is not in their hand:
The counsel of the wicked is far from me.
17 [f]How oft is it that the lamp of the wicked is put out?
That their calamity cometh upon them?
That God distributeth sorrows in his anger?
18 That they are as stubble before the wind,
And as chaff that the storm carrieth away?
Footnotes
- Job 21:4 Or, of
- Job 21:5 Hebrew Look unto me.
- Job 21:9 Or, in peace, without fear
- Job 21:12 Hebrew lift up the voice.
- Job 21:16 Or, Ye say, Lo etc.
- Job 21:17 Or, How oft is the lamp of the wicked put out, And how oft cometh their calamity upon them! God distributeth sorrows in his anger. They are as stubble . . . away.
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