Job 21:4-18
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
4 As for me, is my complaint addressed to mortals?
Why should I not be impatient?(A)
5 Look at me and be appalled,
and lay your hand upon your mouth.(B)
6 When I think of it I am dismayed,
and shuddering seizes my flesh.
7 Why do the wicked live on,
reach old age, and grow mighty in power?(C)
8 Their children are established in their presence
and their offspring before their eyes.(D)
9 Their houses are safe from fear,
and no rod of God is upon them.(E)
10 Their bull breeds without fail;
their cow calves and never miscarries.(F)
11 They send out their little ones like a flock,
and their children dance around.
12 They sing to the tambourine and the lyre
and rejoice to the sound of the pipe.(G)
13 They spend their days in prosperity,
and in peace they go down to Sheol.(H)
14 They say to God, ‘Leave us alone!
We do not desire to know your ways.(I)
15 What is the Almighty,[a] that we should serve him?
And what profit do we get if we pray to him?’(J)
16 Is not their prosperity indeed their own achievement?[b]
The plans of the wicked are repugnant to me.(K)
17 “How often is the lamp of the wicked put out?
How often does calamity come upon them?
How often does God[c] distribute pains in his anger?(L)
18 How often are they like straw before the wind
and like chaff that the storm carries away?(M)
Job 21:4-18
Common English Bible
4 Are my complaints against another human;
why is my patience short?
5 Turn to me and be appalled;
lay your hand over your mouth.
6 If I recall it, I’m scared;
shaking seizes my body.
The success of the wicked
7 Why do the wicked live,
grow old, and even become strong?
8 Their children are always with them,
their offspring in their sight,
9 their houses safe from dread,
God’s punishing stick not upon them.
10 Their bull always breeds successfully;
their cows give birth and never miscarry.
11 They send forth their little ones like sheep;
their infants bounce around.
12 They raise drum and lyre,
rejoice at the sound of a flute.
13 They spend their days contentedly,
go down to the grave[a] peacefully.
14 They say to God, “Turn away from us;
we take no pleasure in knowing your ways;
15 who is the Almighty[b] that we should serve him,
and what can we gain if we meet him?”
16 Look, isn’t their well-being the work of their own hands?
A sinner’s logic is beyond me.
Desired vindication
17 How often does the lamp of the wicked flicker
or disaster come upon them,
with its fury inflicting pain on them?
18 Let them be like straw in the wind,
like dry grass stolen by a storm.
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible