Job 21

Living Bible

21 Job’s reply:

^2-3 “Listen to me; let me speak, and afterwards, mock on.

⁴ “I am complaining about God,^[a] not man; no wonder my spirit is so troubled. ⁵ Look at me in horror, and lay your hand upon your mouth. ⁶ Even I am frightened when I see myself. Horror takes hold upon me and I shudder.

⁷ “The truth is that the wicked live on to a good old age and become great and powerful. ⁸ They live to see their children grow to maturity around them, and their grandchildren too. ⁹ Their homes are safe from every fear, and God does not punish them. ¹⁰ Their cattle are productive, ¹¹ they have many happy children, ^12-13 they spend their time singing and dancing. They are wealthy and need deny themselves nothing; they are prosperous to the end. ¹⁴ All this despite the fact that they ordered God away and wanted no part of him and his ways.

¹⁵ “‘Who is Almighty God?’ they scoff. ‘Why should we obey him? What good will it do us?’

¹⁶ “Look, everything the wicked touch has turned to gold! But I refuse even to deal with people like that. ¹⁷ Yet the wicked get away with it every time. They never have trouble, and God skips them when he distributes his sorrows and anger. ¹⁸ Are they driven before the wind like straw? Are they carried away by the storm? Not at all!

¹⁹ “‘Well,’ you say, ‘at least God will punish their children!’ But I say that God should punish the man who sins, not his children! Let him feel the penalty himself. ²⁰ Yes, let him be destroyed for his iniquity. Let him drink deeply of the anger of the Almighty. ²¹ For when he is dead, then he will never again be able to enjoy his family.

²² “But who can rebuke God, the supreme Judge? ^23-24 He destroys those who are healthy, wealthy, fat, and prosperous; ²⁵ God also destroys those in deep and grinding poverty who have never known anything good. ²⁶ Both alike are buried in the same dust, both eaten by the same worms.

²⁷ “I know what you are going to say— ²⁸ you will tell me of rich and wicked men who came to disaster because of their sins. ²⁹ But I reply, Ask anyone who has been around and he can tell you the truth, ^30-32 that the evil man is usually spared in the day of calamity and allowed to escape. No one rebukes him openly. No one repays him for what he has done. And an honor guard keeps watch at his grave. ³³ A great funeral procession precedes and follows him as the soft earth covers him. ³⁴ How can you comfort me when your whole premise is so wrong?”